Caught in a Lie
by RisingPhoenix56
Summary: Callie is missing. It's up to Marie to launch a rescue mission while hiding her guilt for neglecting their friendship. After going through the Cap'n's things, Marie finds an ancient text that quickly becomes a secret weapon. Meanwhile Delta of Team Entrenched hopes to catch the eye of military recruiters at the National Turf Wars, but it looks like life has other ideas for her.
1. Prologue

Agent 2 could hardly see her own feet in the pitch black that was night, but a glance at the billowing red lights in the distance told her she shouldn't give herself away with a flashlight. Octo Valley was technically enemy territory, but it was far on the fringe and the Octarians didn't have the cephalopower to guard the place at all—especially with DJ Octavio safely behind glass. In all of Agent 2's time in Inkopolis, Octo Valley had been a safe and secret enough place for the New Squidbeak Splatoon to conduct operations to protect the Inklings from the Octarian menace.

Until tonight, it seemed.

Agent 2 advanced to a position far enough from the lights to minimize the risk of detection, and close enough to get a good look on what was going on. She could already tell it wasn't good—even without her charger's scope Agent 2 could see that the red lights looked more like flames at this distance. She went prone, planting her belly on the ground while propping her charger in front of her. Agent 2 adjusted her lime green cap while she slid the lens protector off her Splatterscope. She pulled her face mask a little lower to keep it from getting stuck on the lip of the scope before bringing her eyes to the apparatus.

Cuttlefish Cabin was being razed to the ground, all right. Agent 2 could clearly see the waving colors of oranges and reds devouring the old woodwork of the late cabin through the scope. She thanked her lucky stars that Cap'n Cuttlefish had left for a research trip, but still internally winced at the realization that most of his belongings were torched. Agent 2 moved her makeshift binoculars to the left and found Octavio's snowglobe shattered to pieces, and the Octo King was nowhere to be found.

There were, however, Octolings all over the site. Two patrolled the opposite side of the compound with Octo Shots and three scanned Agent 2's direction with chargers. The Splatoon's last member looked through her own scope at the closest Octoling, whose sights were heading in Agent 2's direction. If she didn't do something, she'd be spotted and splatted.

She wasted no time in reaching over to her pack and pulled out an earthen brown blanket she kept around for camouflage on missions. With a quick flick of her wrist, Agent 2 wrapped herself and her charger in the blanket, leaving only a small sliver open for the scope to peek through. She stayed utterly still, saying a silent prayer that the Octoling would pass her over. The Octoling expertly moved her charger over to Agent 2's hiding place, then came to a stop as she stared at the blanket. The two snipers stared at each other as the enemy tried to figure out if the brown blob was a threat. Agent 2 took a deep breath as her finger began to curl around the trigger. Shooting at the enemy would no doubt cause detection, but if she'd been sniffed out already it was better to make a preemptive strike. She lucked out, since the sentries with the Octo Shots started shouting to the snipers to move out in the opposite direction.

Agent 2 took the opportunity to retreat—it looked like there was nothing left to salvage and the recon squad could return at any minute. She ran back to the extraction point but paused before Super Jumping. Realization dawned on her that if she hadn't "borrowed" it a few days ago, Cuttlefish's book would have been burned in the blaze tonight. Agent 2 frantically searched through her bag to make sure it hadn't fallen out when she grabbed her blanket. Sure enough, the purple-sleeved book was still safely in her possession. Agent 2 breathed a sigh of relief. She needed its words now more than ever.

Marie hugged the book to her chest as she walked up the steps to her apartment. She opened the door and placed the aged text on the round kitchen table. Marie had already thumbed through a couple pages and it basically told her she needed a new outfit. If the Octarians were able to attack Cuttlefish Cabin, that meant they had inside information. And, that further insinuated the old disguises were compromised. Heck, they could have been there to ambush Marie.

Or Callie, Marie realized with dread. Surely her disguise as Agent 1 would have been compromised as well. But…the timeline was off. The fire at the cabin was only an hour old tops, and Callie had been missing for two days already. Two days…Marie could hardly believe her math. Her cousin had been gone an entire day before Marie even realized she was missing. She was busy talking with her parents in their hometown when Callie vanished on her way to their apartment after work. Marie wasn't even expecting her cousin until the next morning, and still waited another day before returning to Inkopolis to search for her. She let out an aggravated sigh, upset with herself for letting things go so far so quickly. Marie should have checked on Callie sooner, and now the attack on Cuttlefish Cabin was too much of a coincidence. Callie must have gotten herself caught up in the brewing Octarian menace and was now in trouble.

Marie shook her head to clear her thoughts. Callie would have told her that ruminating on the past didn't solve the future (in less eloquent terms), and she was right. What mattered most was whether or not Marie managed to get them out of this mess. She walked over to the closet in her room and began looking through her clothes. Marie needed something different enough from her original getup but still could mask her identity. Her eyes landed on her traditional black kimono. Dressing normally wouldn't arouse suspicion, but she still needed something to remain incognito.

Marie looked at the corner of parasols in her room. One of those should work, as long as she was careful about always angling it to cover her face. The Squid Sister rummaged through the collection and her hearts twinged a little at one. It was a yellow parasol with the white Cuttlegear logo on the front—the one that just so happened to serve as the New Squidbeak Splatoon logo as well. The parasol had been a gift from Gramps shortly after the Zapfish fiasco two years ago. Marie picked it up, finding small comfort in the memory of her grandfather. He would know what to do if he was here. But his research trip took Gramps way out of shell service and he wasn't expected back for a while. Marie would have to combat the Octarian threat on her own.

Dawn was starting to break as Marie left her room and walked back into the living room. She turned the TV on to have something in the background while she studied the book on the kitchen table. But that soon turned out to be a mistake, because five seconds of the newscast had her seriously missing Callie. The Squid Sisters quit their old job as anchors two years ago, but it was a riot when they were on the job. Between the constantly broken teleprompter and immeasurable amounts of banter, the two both loved the time they spent on the show. Off the Hook had since replaced them, and they were good anchors—but every broadcast they would make had Marie reminiscing over the old times.

A sudden mood shift on the broadcast brought Marie out of her reverie.

"Read the teleprompter, Marina!" Pearl quipped.

"Huh?" The Octoling DJ hesitantly turned to look past the camera. "Let's see here…" Marina gave her turntables a spin to progress the news' slideshow. The screen showed an animation of Inkopolis' only power source—the Great Zapfish—vanishing into thin air. "The Great Zapfish has…disappeared?!" Marie's face went white.

"WHAT?!" Marie vaguely heard Pearl's response, but her brain had quickly kicked into overdrive. She turned the TV back off—this time she needed the silence to think. Marie knew she shouldn't have been all that surprised the Great Zapfish "vanished" right after Octavio escaped, but still. She didn't think he had the resources to make a strike so quickly. He just broke out of a snowglobe, for carp's sake. This had easily turned into the absolute worst case scenario. Gramps and Agent 3 were unreachable. Callie was who knows where, but Marie suspected it wasn't any good. Octavio had broken out. The Great Zapfish was gone. Any strategist worth half their salt would have said it was already over, and it was only a matter of time before Marie herself was ambushed.

But she didn't have that luxury, Marie realized with fervor. She couldn't give up—not while she thought they had Callie. It was Marie's duty to watch over Inkopolis while Gramps was away, and she wasn't about to do a half-inked job. She leaned back in her chair and sighed. What did Gramps do last time this happened? He got help from a new agent, which coincides with…

Marie knew what to do. The Squid Sister grabbed her parasol in one hand and Gramps' book in the other and set out for Inkopolis Square—the perfect place to find new recruits.

 **A/N: Hey everyone! RisingPhoenix56 here, and thank you so much for reading! As you can probably tell, Caught in a Lie will follow Splatoon 2's Hero Mode—with a few extra plot devices, mechanics, and augmented characterization that end up creating new scenes while filling out older ones. For example, this prologue is a slight rewrite of the last chapter of the Squid Sister Stories. Also, Cap'n Cuttlefish's book is a book in real life. It** _ **really**_ **fits the game's canon/atmosphere, so I decided to put it in. I'm not sure how detailed I'm going to go into the book's content, but that's a question for a future me.**

 **I'm aiming to release Chapter 1 in about four to six days, so keep an eye out! Thank you all for reading!**

 **~RisingPhoenix56**

 **This fic is available on both FFnet and Amino**

 **PS: I wrote that parasol scene before 3.0 released. I liked it so I decided to keep it in anyways**

 **I do not own Splatoon or the book I mentioned**


	2. Chapter 1

"Yo, Delta!" A voice waaaay too loud for the morning cut through the inky blackness. "You plan on sleeping through your first sight of the city?" The young Inkling Delta grumpily pulled the twin tentacles from her eyes and peeked out the train window. There was nothing but farmland dashing past.

"We're at least another half hour out, Kai." Delta had half a mind to rewrap her lengthy tentacles around her head again and go back to sleep. She pitied the girls who cut theirs short—they didn't have 24/7 access to sleep masks.

"Close enough." Kai gave a shrug. Delta looked across the aisle at her friend. Kai's constant fidgeting betrayed his boredom. The leader of Entrenched was a high energy squid, and they had been riding the train to Inkopolis since before dawn. It was no wonder Kai was starting to lose his cool after sitting in the same seat for nearly four hours.

As much as she would have loved to forsake it all and go back to sleep, Delta wasn't about to leave a friend out to dry when she knew she could do something about it. Delta let out a yawn and looked to her other teammate sitting next to her. Her childhood friend Dylan looked deeply lost in thought with his Squidfin hook cans full blast and his gaze stretched far outside the window. He looked peacefully focused with his thoughts, but Delta needed backup to deal with Kai—so she gave him a nudge. Dylan practically jumped out of his seat at the unexpected contact—his two tentacle buns swiveling around his head as he faced his best friend. Delta jabbed her thumb in Kai's direction, and Dylan got the message.

"So Delta's got to get up, but Addam over there can snooze away?" Dylan asked Kai as he shifted an earphone off and looked over at their last teammate. Addam was fast asleep against the window next to Kai, his short and spiky mohawk jiggling up and down whenever the train hit a small bump in the tracks.

"Eh, I'll get him up later." Kai shrugged again. "Besides, he's not much of a talker."

"True." Dylan conceded. Delta agreed Kai had a point. Addam had been on Entrenched since Kai started the turf war team and Delta rarely heard more than two words out of the squid at a time.

"So!" Kai began, happy that he had friends to talk to. "We're finally going to Nationals! Are you guys excited or what?"

"Oh, totally." Dylan said, stifling a yawn. "Totally worth hopping on a train before dawn for."

"Ha!" Kai scoffed. "You're secretly excited to live in the city of the Squid Sisters for two weeks."

"Am not!" Dylan protested as Delta's ears picked out a familiar bass line coming from his headphones.

"Really?" Delta teased. "Then I guess that's the radio playing Ink Me Up?"

Dylan hastily scrambled to turn his shellphone's volume down. Delta suppressed a giggle at her best friend's behavior. Dylan tried to act tough and hide it, but she knew he was beyond excited to be traveling to Inkopolis. Anything Squid Sister related was a guilty pleasure to him.

"Please." Dylan feigned a scoff. "Like I would fall for anything like that."

"Uh huh." Kai and Delta both deadpanned.

"So, uh…" Dylan tried to change the subject. "W-what're you looking forward to, Delta?"

"Well," Delta began, crossing her arms over her chest. She'd take the bait—she figured Dylan had done enough squirming. "I was hoping to see the Great Zapfish and see what all the Great Turf War fuss was about, but…" She nodded at the news monitor on the train wall in front of them.

"Right." Dylan gave a nod. "That was bad timing, what with the tournament and all." Delta and the rest of Entrenched were heading to Inkopolis after finally qualifying for the National Turf Wars, a two-week tourney held every year to honor the Great Turf War decades ago. It was everyone's dream to graduate from their local tourney make it to the big leagues in Inkopolis, and that dream was finally starting to happen.

But for Delta, things were a little different. Inkopolis was a place to meet and mingle with military recruiters. It was her chance to finally join the military—a dream she held close to her hearts since she was twelve. The higher Entrenched placed, the more skill they displayed. And the more skill Delta had, the more likely it was that the recruiters would give her the time of day.

Delta was still concerned however—the team had just barely made it out of regionals and the national level was going to be a huge jump in competition. Echo's Edge was known for its martial personality—not its wealth, and Entrenched was going into the city with patched clothing and age-old hand-me-downs. The city folk had an advantage based on equipment alone.

"Wait!" Kai's eyes went wide as he processed Dylan's words. "Is the tower gonna lose power if the Great Zapfish isn't there? Is the tournament gonna get cancelled?"

"Relax." Delta said, trying to stop her friend's freakout. "The city's got generators to keep the power going for at least three weeks. That's enough time for Nationals."

"That's cutting it close…" Kai muttered under his breath.

"Well, remember the last time it went missing?" Delta added. "You know, around two years ago? It turned back up before long." Dylan opened his mouth like he was about to say something else, but the news monitor in front of them whirred to life. "Inkopolis News!" flashed across the screen in turquoise and pearl white. Dylan shut his mouth and reached for his soda while Kai nudged Addam awake.

"Ya'll know what time it is!" Pearl began as she came onscreen.

"It's Off the Hook, coming at you LIVE from Inkopolis Square!" Marina followed up. Delta gave a quick glance around the train car. Most of the other passengers had awoken at the news hour's jingle.

"Check it!" Pearl flicked her hand towards the screen. "Here are the stages for today!" The passengers yawned as Marina reached for her turntables.

"Hold it!" Pearl suddenly yelled, startling the other passengers on the train as Marina flinched. "We've got more breaking news!"

"Wha…?" Marina started, still startled from Pearl's sudden outburst and unexpected newsflash. "L-let's take a look…"

"Probably just drama about that new hairstyle trend." Dylan muttered under his breath as he took a sip from his soda.

"Pop superstar Callie of the Squid Sisters has gone missing!"

Dylan spit out his soda. Delta narrowly missed the splash zone by a tiny margin of an inch. Dylan might have been the unluckiest of the reactions, but the rest of the train behaved similarly. Gasps erupted from the passengers, which quickly turned into wails and panicked voices.

"NOOO!" Pearl cried onscreen. "Not Callie! Do something, Marina!"

"This is terrible!" A passenger cried out. "She was supposed to host Splaturday Night Live this weekend!"

"Forget that!" Another snapped. "What about her role on The Squidsific Rim?"

"Or her weblog! She _just_ started posting again!"

Delta pulled out a napkin and handed it to Dylan, who started mopping up his mess. Kai shot him a mildly concerned look, but his eyes widened before he could come up with something to say.

"Guys!" Kai pointed to the window. "Look!" Delta and Dylan turned to look out the window to find that the green landscape was gone, replaced by black and grey steel. Lights flashed by and billboards flew past the train. They had finally reached Inkopolis. The team basically plastered themselves to the windows as they took in the sights, their mood slightly lifted with the excitement of seeing the capital for the first time. The lights had turned into massive buildings ten stories high, coated in a sleek black metal sheen. Delta looked to her right to find a series of white cube-like facilities clustered together.

"That must be Floundering Heights." She wondered out loud.

"Look!" Kai pointed out the window. "There's the Deca Tower!" Delta and the rest of the team redirected their attention to where Kai was pointing. Deca Tower stood out from the crowd of buildings, covered in monitors and all sorts of advertisements. The whole team stared in a mixture of wonder and intimidation as the train pulled up to the station.

* * *

After corralling Kai around and making sure Addam was still there, Team Entrenched finally made it to their destination—Inkopolis Square. Delta was first to land, surprised her feet hit white paint instead of the usual landing pad. Deca Tower stood as the centerpiece to the square, illuminating the sky with its various monitors and ads. Delta looked up at the tower and noticed aged indentations in the black metal—now that she had a closer look she could see the grooves the Great Zapfish's body left behind from years of nesting. After a brief conversation with each other, Entrenched decided it was time for lunch and headed to a yellow food truck near the back of the Square.

"Hey, squiddos!" A prawn's head popped out from behind the truck's window. "Give me just a sec and I'll be right with you…" His attention turned back to his phone as his baseball hat slid over his eyes. The crusted prawn pushed it back up with his crimson claw and stashed his phone away. "Okay, I'm back!" He turned to his new customers. "Ah… I take it you fellas are new to the city?" The prawn asked, giving a slight nod at the team's clothes.

"Yup." Kai replied. "We're Entrenched from Echo's Edge, ready to cook the national competition 'till they're well done!" Kai threw his fist in the air. Delta watched Dylan give an exasperated eyeroll at Kai's enthusiasm, but the prawn only sported a sad smile.

"Is that so?" The prawn crossed his claws over his chest. "Well I'm Crusty Sean, and you squiddos have found the Crust Bucket—best food in the city if I do say so myself." Crusty Sean tipped his white cap as he gave a small bow, and the sadness in his eyes was gone by the time he straightened back up. "Menu's right over there." Sean pointed at the chalkboard resting on the truck's wheel. "Just let me know what you want and I'll fry it up."

"Cool." Delta replied, leaning in to take a closer look at the menu. The others shrugged and gave their orders.

"Alright, squiddos." Crusty Sean said as he handed over the food. "Enjoy!" He called as the team walked away and over to the white outdoor tables.

After eating lunch, Team Entrenched decided to settle into their living quarters, where Delta stayed at until the match. Not all warriors had the luxury of knowing the time and place of a battle, but when they did—the best ones knew to save their energy the day of the fight. Delta had found it was a similar principle for major Turf Wars. When there was about an hour before the match, Delta hoisted herself off the sofa and started to gather her things. She grabbed her headband and changed into her Navy King tank. After pulling on her red sneakers, Delta met up with the rest of Entrenched just outside Deca Tower. After a brief check-in with everyone, the team took a deep breath and headed in. They were instantly directed to the main lobby and told to sit and wait. Entrenched took the time to stretch and warm up.

"Okay guys." Kai said as he clipped his skating helmet on. "You guys remember the plan, right?"

"Yeah," Delta crossed her arms over her chest. "You've only said it—what—five hundred times now?"

"Let's go over it again. Jus-just in case." Kai twirled his dualies for the umpteenth time.

"That…" Delta breathed to herself. "That wasn't an invitation to do it again…"

"So our match is gonna be on Humpback Pump Track—like we knew earlier. We're up against BRB, but we don't know a carp about them. So we've just got to work with what we've got on our side. Addam—" Kai pointed to the quiet Inkling cleaning his Heavy Splatling's nozzle in the corner—"will be bringing up the rear, giving cover with suppressing fire. Dylan, you and I will move up the side routes as soon as the bell rings so we can try to flank them as they try for the center."

"You sure you and Dualies in tight spaces is a good idea?" Dylan asked as he tested his Splat Brella's canopy. "We put that head of yours in a helmet for good reason—you and dualie rolls don't mix. I don't know why you decided to main them in the first place."

"Hey!" Kai protested. "That one time was the wall's fault!" Addam cleared his throat and shot Kai a look. "A-anyways, Delta—you bum rush the center and hold it."

"Yeah, about that…" Delta replied. Her role had been bothering her all day. "My part in all this seems doomed to failure. All of BRB is going to be rushing the center, and I'm the only one there to stop them?"

"Yeah, because you can." Dylan replied, giving Delta a slap on the back. "You've got the meanest beast mode we've ever seen. Remember that time you splatted the entire opposing team in the span of five seconds? Single-handedly turned the tide of that match?"

"Well, yeah, but two of them were just stupid. These players will be better."

"And these squids will be intimidated, which leads to the same thing." Dylan rebutted. "You say this every single time before a match, and you still crush it."

"Fine." Delta gave a shrug. She opened her mouth to say something when the lobby's launchpad whirred to life. It was time.

"All right, team." Kai said as he gathered his dualies. "Let's do this." He was first to the launchpad, and rocketed off towards Humpback Pump Track. Addam followed suit, with Dylan behind him. Delta stared briefly at the launchpad. Dylan was right—it was time to act, not worry.

Delta spawned onto the launchpad on Humpback while the commentators finished up their introduction speech. Delta turned to her right and instantly noticed a camera peeking out from the wall. She froze, and tried to keep herself calm with a steadying breath. Out of all the things that made her nervous, having an audience was the absolute worst. It didn't help that the entire nation was watching this battle tonight.

"Camera bothering you?" Dylan noticed his friend's discomfort. Delta gave a tight nod. "Relax." He advised. "Just pretend they're not there. And if that doesn't work, you know what they say at home. If you can't beat fear…"

"Do it scared." Delta finished. "Right. Thanks."

"But you've all heard enough talk already!" Delta heard the commentators wrapping up. She took Dylan's advice, trying to ignore the cameras. It had started to work, her mind was beginning to quiet as sounds started to seem more and more distant.

"Give it up for Entrenched, versus BRB!" The commentator's last line was the last thing Delta heard before it happened. Endolphins exploded in Delta's brain, leaving her shuddering in her spot. She gripped her Splattershot harder as she felt her hearts begin to race. Dylan's advice worked—she was in the zone.

 _Three._ Delta hardly heard the countdown over the sudden roar of rushing ink in her ears.

 _Two.._ Her hips sank into an athletic stance as Delta's spine ducked forward, ready to dash forward the millisecond she was allowed to.

 _One…_ Every muscle in Delta's body trembled in the anticipation of action.

 _GO!_

Delta was off like a shot, running with her finger slammed against the Splattershot's trigger to ink as much turf as she could on her way to the center. She leapt off the edge of Humpback's go kart route and planted her feet on the edge of the center zone. From there her endolphin-powered brain only recognized the rolling hills of the center as problems to be fixed. Delta didn't care if the ground was brown, black or pink. It wasn't blue. And her muscles screamed at her to fix that.

Delta squeezed her weapon's trigger and sidestepped into a strafing maneuver, watching as electric blue fell on brown turf. A stream of the same blue arched over her, and Delta looked back to see Addam helping cover the center from the high ground with his Heavy Splatling. She ran forward, letting her Splattershot find more areas to ink before chucking a Burst Bomb at a distant patch of brown.

"One's down." Delta heard Dylan's voice from her earbud as she reached Humpback's center hill.

"That's two!" Kai replied. "Delta one's coming your way, but I don't know where the other's—ack!" Kai's transmission turned to static.

"Kai got jumped from behind." Dylan gave his sitrep. "And it looks like whoever splatted him is pushing through the side passage. Addam, you move up and intercept him."

"Got it." Addam's splatling spray disappeared.

"Delta, you and I flank this last one." Dylan continued.

"No!" Delta had other ideas. "They're pushing so their spawn is open. You're the closest so dig into their base."

"You sure?" Dylan sounded hesitant. Delta had no time for hesitancy.

"Just go!" Delta heard a telltale jingle, like a can tossed across a floor. She looked down to find a pink splat bomb swelling at her feet.

 _Oh no you don't_ , Delta growled inside her head while diving into the ink behind her. Her fast reaction saved her from the splat radius, but she was still unlucky enough to catch a few stray dots of pink. Delta ignored the sting of opposing ink on her skin, but soon luck was on her side. A familiar ding sounded from her tank, signaling her special was ready. Delta swam forward and sprang out of the electric blue ink, slamming her Splattershot on the unsuspecting player in a Splashdown. She looked off toward the distance to see Dylan get splatted near the enemy spawn. A look to her right showed Addam and a newly resurfaced Kai still struggling with the last BRB player.

Unwilling to lose his progress, Delta swam up to Dylan's position, trying to hold the ink Entrenched had in the enemy's zone. But in her haste she forgot to clear her corners, and three shots to her back exploded her into a puddle of pink.

Delta reformed back at their spawn, shaking off her disorientation. From this vantage, she could see BRB had gained an edge in her absence, taking over a large portion of the center and was winning the battle in the side routes. But no matter, they still had plenty of—wait, since when were there only thirty seconds left?

Delta rushed back toward center, her legs finding renewed vigor. A Splattershot player was ready to meet her, spraying out a stream of pink in her direction. Delta moved instantly into a strafing position, making sure to stay at a forty-five degree angle ahead of the other player's range while her returning fire made short work of him. Before Delta had time to celebrate, Kai's opponent from the side rolled into the center, hoping to take advantage of an unaware opponent. Delta took two shots to her shoulder before she was able to pin down his dualie rolls and take him out. That's two down, two more to go.

"Delta!" Kai called over their comms. "We don't have a shot at winning if we can't reclaim the center. You hear me? Hold. That. Hill."

"Understood." Delta barked back, planting her feet at the top of the hill. Delta vowed to herself it would take a miracle to get her off it. She wasted no time in firing up her Splattershot again, swinging the nozzle in a circle to cover as much as she could. Her movement caused unwanted attention from the remaining two BRB players, and they set up a flank on each side of the hill. These two were clever—using the natural topography of the hill as cover while still being able to shoot at her. Delta turned at an inopportune time and a volley of pink crashed into the right side of her face, blinding her for a brief second. One more hit and she was done.

The growing sting kicked Delta's brain into its final stage—a flat out refusal to surrender. There was no way she was going to lose—not here, not now, and definitely not to these two squits who dared to attack her. Delta vaguely heard a horn sound out from the stage. Ten seconds left.

 _You're gonna have to claw me away from here,_ Delta growled to herself as she hurled a bomb at one to give herself space. _And even then, I'm taking your sorry hide with me._

One player made the mistake of coming up the side of the hill with his roller. Delta was on him instantly, and he was nothing more than a puddle in three hits. She swerved around just in time to dodge the last player's shots, taking the opportunity to jump into her ink and swim up to him. She jumped back out less than a foot away from him, splatting him point blank with her own Splattershot.

 _YES._ Delta's mind celebrated. But she didn't have time to herself; three seconds to go and she still had pink around her. Delta slammed her finger into the trigger again, rushing to cover up as much pink as she could find. Delta pressed the red button on her tank at the last second and chucked one last Burst Bomb right as time called. The center hill and the immediate area were nothing more than electric blue.

The map that showed on the ceiling's screen proved it—Delta's last push earned Entrenched the majority of the center. She looked to Judd, who had appeared at the judge's corner. He cautiously eyed each side of the stage before raising up an electric blue flag. Entrenched had won—fifty to forty percent.

Delta let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She heard her team's cheers as she collapsed in her spot, utterly exhausted. Nothing in the world beat the rush of trained aggression that she used in Turf Wars—but the trait left her dead tired after every major fight. And her vow still held true; it would still take a miracle to get her off that hill.

* * *

Meanwhile

Marie twirled the folded letter between her fingers as she turned the corner into the Square. She had hoped to catch Judd before he had to prepare for the opening Nationals match tonight, but now that Callie's disappearance was official, Marie had been held up in phone call after phone call from frantic family and friends. The hardest one to take was Callie's parents. Marie could hear their tears of worry over the phone, desperate for any sort of clue about what had happened to their baby girl. It broke Marie's hearts to say she had no idea. They wanted to come to Inkopolis to find their missing daughter, and Marie breathed a silent sigh of relief when she convinced them to stay at home and look in Calamari County. Best to search on two fronts since Callie was trying to come home when she vanished, Marie had reasoned. But in reality hosting Callie's parents in the city would have seriously hampered NSS operations, and Marie couldn't allow that—even if they had even the smallest chance of bringing her back.

But all the talk on the phone made her late for her meeting with Judd, and by the time Marie arrived he was off preparing for the match. The cat had left a note with what he had wanted to say, which was the letter Marie held in her hands. She managed to find a hidden corner behind Jelfonzo's shop to read in peace:

"Marie,

I'm so sorry to hear about Callie. You're right, this does have Octarian attack written all over it. But I'm afraid my time with the old Splatoon is up—I can't abandon my post as judge now, no matter how much I want to. Your grandfather was like a father to me, but you will have to keep searching for your assistant.

But I'm very very glad you saved the book. Inkopolis would be mere squid rings without it, and that's not just me boasting about my old job in the Great Turf War. I was in charge of translation from my old master's text until your grandfather wrote my dictation down in the Inkling language. And that's how the book you claim to have found came into being. And we won the Great Turf War with it. You can certainly win your new engagement with it.

Marie, I cannot overstate how important it is that you follow the book's guidance to the letter. Heed its words and you will never know peril. Ignore its advice and only death and destruction await you. It sounds cheesy but it couldn't be more true. You can do this, Marie. Study the book, follow it, get some recruits. Nationals should be perfect to find some exceptional squids.

I would say good luck, but if you read the book you'll realize it has nothing to do with luck.

-Judd"

Marie folded the letter back up. She figured Judd wouldn't have been able to help much, but the absolute importance Gramps' book had was new. No pressure.

"And now, we have our first match of the championship! Give it up for Entrenched, versus BRB!" Marie heard the announcer start the match. She pocketed the letter and headed into the Square. Judd was right—watching the National battles would be a good idea. When she turned the corner she found a crowd of Inklings huddled in front of Deca Tower, their eyes glued to the monitor above the lobby's entrance. Marie could see flashes of pink and electric blue onscreen as the teams already got down to work. She snuck up to the door outside Jelfonzo's shop, taking care to stay far enough away to keep herself from being noticed. Marie settled herself in to watch the match, giving her parasol an absentminded twirl. She nearly jumped when a claw touched her shoulder.

"Sorry." Crusty Sean apologized as he passed her a drink. She took it, noting its comforting warmth. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, it's fine." Marie took a whiff of her offered drink, recognizing coffee and a hint of cinnamon. Callie would have wanted some. "It's fine..." Marie repeated, more to herself than to Sean. "I've just been... on edge lately."

"Understandably." Sean replied, taking his claw off Marie's shoulder. "I heard about Callie."

"Yeah." Marie muttered. "Who hasn't at this point?"

"Holy carp, Marie." Sean breathed. Marie looked up to see that the prawn had ducked his head under her parasol. "You look like squit."

"Thanks." Marie glared back. Sean's beady eyes widened, quickly realizing his mistake.

"Sorry, sorry!" Sean held his claws up in surrender. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm just worried about you." Marie's sharp glare softened. Crusty Sean had become a trusted friend over the past two years—he was only trying to look out for her. Marie took a sip of the latte, figuring she'd have to find a way to placate him. Maybe if he thought he was helping, Sean would feel better.

"I really think something's wrong." Marie figured certain truths wouldn't hurt. "None of this feels right."

"Well," Sean began. "It might not be as bad as you think. Callie strikes me as the kind of squid that would hop on a vacation and forget to tell anyone."

"Yeah." Marie tiredly agreed, pulling out her shellphone. "Except she at least answers her phone when that happens." Marie tapped Callie's icon and put the phone on speaker so Sean could hear. They heard Callie's voice recording in an instant.

"Hey, it's Callie!" The recording spat back. "I'm in the middle of something SUPER important right now, so I can't come to the phone. Leave me a message or call me back once I'm done with this thing!" Marie hung up, proving her point.

"It didn't even ring." Sean commented. "Her shellphone isn't even on."

"Callie's phone is never off." Marie added, absentmindedly watching a brella player splat his opponent in a splash of blue. "She clings to that thing because of her weblog."

"Well, maybe it ran out of battery?" Sean suggested. "I can see her forgetting to charge it."

"Maybe..." Marie muttered. She knew that wasn't the case, but kept her mouth shut. A squidnapping was much more likely, but that was a secret.

"Look." Sean said, snapping Marie out of her thoughts. "Either way, you can't forget about yourself, Marie. You look like you haven't slept in days already." Marie gave a small frown. She hadn't.

"You think Callie needs your help, I get it." Sean continued. "But what Callie really needs is your judgment, and you can't have a good head on your shoulders if you don't take care of yourself."

"Yeah." Marie tensed up. Sean didn't realize how accurate he was. He had a point—Marie couldn't remember the last time she ate or even made a pun. If this kept up, she wouldn't be able to correctly navigate through the Octarian threat—especially if what Judd had said was true. "I guess a quick distraction couldn't hurt."

"There's a good idea!" Sean cracked a grin as wide as a prawn could make. "And what better opportunity than the Nationals?"

"BRB versus…Entrenched, right?" Marie asked. Sean nodded. "BRB's from your hometown, I remember them from last year…" Marie continued. "But where's Entrenched from?"

"Oh!" Sean pressed a claw to his forehead. "I know this…they're uh, Echo's Edge!"

"Echo's Edge?" Marie repeated. "Where's that?"

"It's waaaaay out there on the fringes of Inkling territory." Sean answered. "Really rural and isolated place. It was really contested during the Great Turf War, so there's a lot of military families out there—they're really big on keeping a warrior's culture. Anyways, this is the first time they've sent a team to the Nationals."

"Militant place, huh…" Marie repeated, more to herself than anyone. A squid with a martial upbringing would prove extremely useful to the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Closer examination of Entrenched's movements proved what Sean was saying—the players moved sharply, oftentimes taking the time to check corners for stealthy opponents. Marie watched an Inkling covering the center spot a splat bomb underneath her feet. Marie thought the Splattershot player was surely splatted, but an instant dive into the ink saved the player. She came away from the encounter with only a small splattering of pink on her and was instantly engaging the newly discovered threat.

"Wow," Sean sounded impressed. "I've never seen a squid react so fast."

"Well," Marie began, watching as the Entrenched player was splatted near the enemy spawn. "Her planning could use some work." Marie was right, as the untimely splat let BRB move in and take the center zone with only thirty seconds left on the clock. The player respawned, and Marie half expected her to panic. But instead the opposite happened. The Splattershot player charged back into the center with even more focus and determination than before, taking out a BRB player with ease. A dualies opponent tagged her twice in the shoulder, but it looked like the contact hardly registered with the Entrenched player as she took him down with ease.

She moved up to the center hill, but was quickly surrounded by BRB's remaining two members. She took one last hit and this time Marie thought for sure this Entrenched player was going to get splatted. But instead she got this…indignant look in her eye as she held her ground and took out the last two. In an instant.

Marie blinked, processing what she just saw. That Splattershot player single-handedly took out all four of BRB's players…in the last thirty seconds. That allowed Entrenched to reclaim turf and win the match. But those last ten moments, that last look…they were akin to a cornered Salmonid, staring down a predator and spitting in its face. And that indignant expression in her eye…

It was the look she'd been looking for.

"Well," Marie yawned, not entirely faking it. "That was fun, but I'm getting tired…"

"Understandable." Sean picked up the bait. "You should really get some rest."

"Yeah, I think I'm going to sleep now." Marie lied. "And best to leave now before the crowd turns around and notices me." Marie excused herself from the Square, ducking into an alleyway to allow time for the crowd to disperse.

There was so much work to be done.

She had found her recruit.

* * *

 **Hey everybody! I managed to pump out the next chapter this morning. I had wanted to split this into two chapters since it's a lot of info, but I couldn't find a place to cut it without hurting the flow or setup I had going on. I don't think all chapters are going to be this long, but we'll see what happens. I want to extend a big thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and followed. I really appreciate it!**

 **I'm off to work on the next chapter,**

 **~RisingPhoenix56**


	3. Chapter 2

Delta looked up at Dylan's apartment, wondering if she should tell him his life-sized cardboard cutout of the Squid Sisters was visible from the Square. Kai and the others had hauled her off Humpback Pump Track with the promise of good food and movies at one of the apartments the Nationals staff rented the team. After the celebration was over, the others went to sleep—but Delta's hearts were still racing from the Turf War. She figured wandering around the Square was a better use of her time than tossing and turning in bed. It was after ten o'clock and the place was nearly deserted—Delta surmised no open shops meant no passerby.

The sound of someone clearing their throat broke Delta out of her reverie. She whipped around to locate the source of the sound, but found nothing behind her. She looked around again, certain she wasn't alone.

Then she saw it.

First Delta saw the shadow on the ground, stretching over the edge of the manhole—thanks to the construction light above Grizzco's. Delta looked up and found a figure standing over the manhole, angling a yellow parasol to cover their face. The sleeves from the figure's black kimono swayed with the wind. Delta couldn't see their face, but it felt like they were…watching her through the parasol. Delta looked around. They were the only ones in the Square. The figure took a hand off the parasol to fiddle with something behind it.

"Hello?" Delta called out. Nothing, but the hand was back on the parasol—as if she was waiting for Delta to do something. Delta looked around. Normally this would be against her better judgment, but…Delta sensed no malice from the figure, no intent to do ill. She cautiously took a step towards the figure, then another. Then another. Delta got close to ten paces from the figure before she vanished down the manhole in a cloud of lime green, leaving Delta alone to follow. She took a deep breath before changing into a squid herself and slipping through the grate.

Delta followed the squid through twists and turns that seemed to make no sense. Down, left, right, right, right, up, left, right, straight, left, down. Finally Delta could see light shimmering from a grate and moved through it.

She didn't expect to find herself in a rocky formation of half-floating rocks. An archway stood in front of her, looming over a ground made of dirt and aged brick. Practice balloons huddled together at the end of some sort of makeshift range. A small shack sat at the other side where the figure from before stood, her back turned to Delta and muttering to herself. Delta thought about calling out to the squid, but she had no idea what she had gotten herself into.

The other Inkling made the decision for her. Her yellow parasol shifted to the side as she turned to look over her shoulder at her new company, and she didn't need to turn all the way around for Delta to recognize her.

"Ah, there you are." The Inkling said as Delta's jaw nearly dropped. "I was hoping you were able to follow. It's a little tricky the first time."

Delta was stunned. Out of all the souls in the entire world, Marie—the Marie—popstar from the ever-famous Squid Sisters stood before her in this strange place. In the flesh. The same Marie whose songs had sold a billion copies the nation over. The same Marie who woke Inkopolis up every morning with Inkopolis News two years ago. _Dylan's not here,_ Delta thought to herself. _He's going to kill me._

"Yeah, yeah." Marie—THE Marie—popstar of the _ever-famous_ Squid Sisters—let out a sigh as she fiddled with her purple hair clip. "Look, I get it. You're star-struck, but I need you to get over it. We don't have much time."

Delta blinked.

"Um," Marie—the MARIE—popstar from the ever-famous _Squid Sisters_ began. "Oh, carp, I forgot to check. You _can_ talk, right? Please say yes. Say anything, really."

"Uh," Delta stammered out.

"Good enough!" Marie answered, excited she got a sign of life out of the newcomer. "As I said, I don't have much time so let's get right to the point. I need your help."

"Wait, whoa hold up." Delta held up a hand to slow Marie down. Marie's confession knocked Delta out of her stunned state, but she still felt like she was hallucinating. "What is all this? What are you doing here? Where even is here?"

"Sorry." Marie cleared her throat. "I'm not used to bringing squids up to speed on this stuff. You're in Octo Canyon, for starters. Tentakeel Outpost to be squidsific."

"Octo Canyon?" Delta repeated. "As in…Octarian?"

"You guessed it." Marie replied, cracking a half smile. "You're from Echo's Edge, right?"

"Right." Delta wasn't sure how Marie knew that.

"So I'm sure you've heard all about the Great Turf War between Inklings and Octarians." Marie fiddled with her kimono's sleeve. "Well your history books were wrong—The Great Turf War never ended. It just turned cold."

Delta blinked again. That was a bold statement, especially coming from a popstar,

"You don't believe me." Marie commented, reaching into her kimono's inside pocket to pull out her shellphone. "Remember last time the Great Zapfish vanished, about two years ago?"

Delta nodded. Marie walked over to Delta and held out her phone, showing a picture of four masked Inklings. Front and center was a certain black tentacled squid wearing sunglasses and a pink beanie, mouth wide open in one of the biggest grins Delta had seen. Callie. Her right arm was outstretched taking the selfie, and her left had snuck around to give the Inkling next to her bunny ears. To her left was a squid with gray tentacles wearing a lime green cap and a surgical facemask, looking peeved but slightly amused at Callie's last second prank.

But what caught Delta's eye was the background behind the squids. A massive—and Delta meant _massive_ fish laid on the ground in front of floating weapons. Delta instantly recognized them as Octarian armaments, the weapon smiths back at Echo's Edge kept blueprints of Octo weapons around for reference.

"Alright." Delta gave an approving frown. She guessed as outrageous as the situation seemed, it looked like Marie was telling the truth. "So you're saying when the Great Zapfish vanished last time, it was actually the Octarians who took it?"

Marie nodded.

"Who was responsible for bringing it back?" Delta asked. Things were starting to come together.

The New Squidbeak Splatoon." Marie straightened up a little as she answered. "That's a group of four Inklings that keep the Octarian threat at bay. Three agents and a leader. Agent 3 was in charge of finding the Great Zapfish and freeing it from captivity. With the help of Agents 1 and 2, of course."

"And how do you know all this?" Delta still found a popstar's credibility in military dark ops questionable.

"Well," Marie began, pride leaking out of her voice. "I put up a pretty good act myself. I may look like just an absurdly talented pop star, but in truth I'm Agent 2. I helped bring the Great Zapfish back two years ago."

"And the Zapfish disappeared last night..." Delta thought aloud.

"The Octarians squidnapped it." Marie finished for Delta. "Again. But they took things a step further this time. They also took Agent 1."

"Agent 1?" Delta repeated, then her eyes widened as she remembered who else went missing recently. "Callie is Agent 1?" Marie gave a solemn nod.

"Last time we were able to bring back the Great Zapfish." She continued. "But now... the captain is away with Agent 3, and Callie has vanished. I can't do this by myself, especially if I want to keep my cover." Delta gulped, now understanding the gravity of what Marie was asking.

"Look." Delta started, pulling at the short tentacles at the nape of her neck. "I appreciate that you asked me, but... I have no experience or ability to do this. You're talking about fighting for real, making real maneuvers and risking real things. I only know sport. I came to this city to play in the tournament, not risk my life in something I don't qualify for. I'm...sorry." Delta turned to head back down the grate.

"Wait." Delta felt a hand grab her forearm. She turned around to find it was Marie's. "I know what I saw in that match earlier tonight. You might fight for sport, but you've trained for the real deal. That's all I need—I can help train the rest." Marie paused, closing her eyes and taking a breath. "I need your help. If the Octarians have the Great Zapfish for too long, Inkopolis will not only lose power but the Octarian leader will be able to raise an army and take the city while it's defenseless. I don't have time to find someone else. And..." Marie faltered, swallowing a lump in her throat. "And who knows what's happening to Callie." Marie's eyes opened again. "Please."

Delta froze. She knew Marie was telling the truth, and she guessed Delta's secret agenda for entering the Nationals. Delta caught a second look at Marie since she had closed the distance between them. Dark circles clung to her eyes, in stark contrast to the gaunt white skin. Delta could faintly make out tear trails from her eyes down to her chin—old tears Marie hadn't bothered to wipe away. The usually put together celebrity was coming apart at the seams. In fact, in that moment when Marie looked at her with desperate, pleading eyes, Delta had forgotten she was a celebrity at all. The Marie Delta was seeing was an Inkling hopelessly overwhelmed and utterly alone, trying to save a squidnapped friend but had no idea what to do or who to turn to. Delta couldn't just... leave her like that, and fight everything on her own.

"Fine." Delta sighed, against her sense of self-preservation. "I'm in."

"Thank you." Relief washed over Marie's eyes like a fresh ocean wave, but it was gone in an instant, and Marie's self composure had returned to normal. "Now, we have a lot to do—but let's get you set up first. From this point forward, you are now Agent 4 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon." Marie motioned for Delta to follow her to the cabin, picking up a set of clothes. "And as a signing bonus, you get a brand new suit. Trust me, it's way better than the stupid old ones that made you look like a disgruntled construction worker." Marie handed the clothes over to Delta, who looked at them, then back to Marie.

"Yeah no." Marie rolled her eyes. "I don't have magic dressing powers." She jabbed a thumb toward the cabin. Delta shrugged and went inside to change.

The so-called Cuttlefish Cabin 2.0 (now fireproof) looked small on the outside, and felt even smaller on the inside. A small cot lay on the left side of the rectangular floor plan, and a desk with a laptop took up the space on the other end. A rudimentary cooking station sat directly across from Delta, and on the wall next to the bed lay a charger unlike anything Delta had ever seen. Its bulbous muzzle and main body were covered in a nebulous black, lined with a lime green border. And it was astoundingly well maintained; the charger practically glowed with the amount of polish.

"Hands off that charger, by the way." Marie called through the door. "No one handles it but me."

"Yeah, yeah." Delta called back. "What kind of charger is it, anyway? I've never seen anything like it."

"It's from a series only available to Splatoon agents." Marie answered. "Although that's the older model. You'll get one of your own to use—it comes with joining."

"So everyone in the Splatoon's got one?" Delta asked as she tied the boots' shoelaces.

"Well not the charger per se." Marie corrected. "But you do get a weapon from the series. My cousin—for example—has the roller variant."

"Your cousin's in on this too?"

"Uh, yeah?" Marie sounded confused. "Callie's a part of all this, remember?"

"Wait." Delta paused, processing. "Callie's your cousin?"

"What, you didn't know that?" Marie asked.

"Uh, no." Delta replied, zipping the bright yellow jacket up. "I just assumed you guys were sisters. You know, because you're both called the Squid _Sisters_? Why did you name yourselves that if you're not sisters?"

"Because cephalopods would line out the door for the Squid Cousins." Delta didn't have to see Marie's face to sense the sarcasm in her tone. "Half of your success is dependent on how you brand yourself. Remember that."

Delta figured Marie had a point as she walked back outside, fiddling with the turtleneck collar. Squid Sisters sounded a million times better than Squid Cousins.

"Hey, not a bad fit." Marie commented as Delta turned the corner.

"I feel like even a blind squid can see me." Delta gestured to the nearly glowing yellow jacket.

"It's still better than the older one." Marie chuckled at Delta's comment. "Come on, let me show you how this is going to work." She slid her parasol closed and walked through the rock archway, motioning for Delta to follow.

"So we have two main objectives we need to achieve." Marie began as she walked. "Our first and most important is to rescue Callie and the Great Zapfish. But we also need to subdue whatever Octarian threat is brewing before it has a chance to grow into something larger." Marie stopped at an opening in the ground, since repaired with glass. "To do both, we need to strike the Octarians where it hurts—their base of operations." Marie pointed her parasol down at the polluted lake below them. Delta peered closer through the glass and made out tiny little structures resting on the water's surface.

"Cephalon HQ will definitely be our endgame." Marie withdrew her parasol. "But we obviously can't just walk right in and start beating things up. For multiple reasons." Marie gave a sigh. "First off the most elite of Octarians guard the base, and there's hundreds of them there at the moment. Unless we can find a magical way to clone you a hundred times, you're all we've got. And that's not even taking the barrier into consideration."

"Barrier?" Delta asked.

"Cephalon HQ has the ability to put up an electrified barrier whenever it has enough Zapfish power." Marie explained. "No Inkling can cross the barrier as long as it's up."

"So then that's a pickle." Delta scratched her head. "The Great Zapfish is powering the barrier...and is behind it?"

"Well, the barrier isn't actually powered by the Great Zapfish itself." Marie answered. "I forgot to mention this, but the Great Zapfish has accumulated a lot of offspring in its century of living. And Zapfish tend to keep their babies safe…by holding them in pouches inside their mouths."

"So you're saying not only did the Octarians steal the Great Zapfish and Callie, but also whatever babies the Great Zapfish was holding?" Delta could hardly believe how flawlessly this had gone in the Octarian's favor.

"Right." Marie replied. "And the babies themselves can also be used to generate electricity. They're usually used for military upkeep, including the barrier protecting Cephalon HQ."

"And how many babies are there?" Delta asked.

"About fifty." Marie calmly replied.

"What?!" Delta was stunned.

"Zapfish have large clutch sizes." Marie seemed to not even blink at Delta's reaction. "Anyways, as I was saying—the barrier's power is outsourced from the Zapfish in surrounding outposts. I've tracked them to this canyon. Your job is to head into each stronghold and retrieve each Zapfish. Every time we do that, we weaken the barrier and eventually we'll be able to get inside to rescue Callie and the Great Zapfish."

"Okay." Delta stretched her back, ready to get going. "So what's our first move?"

"There's four Zapfish right here in Tentakeel Outpost." Marie explained as she fiddled with whatever she grabbed from the bench earlier. "Let's clear out this area and see how the Octarians respond."

"So…" Delta started, looking around the area. She didn't see anything that looked even remotely close to alive, let alone a Zapfish or Octarian. "Where are they?" Without skipping a beat, Marie whipped out the shooter she had been hiding and shot a stream of ink at what looked like nothing but air. After about five hits, the air materialized into a flattened kettle with a grate on top.

"Octarians like to live in kettles underground." Marie explained. "And they keep the entrance under an invisibility cloak as a defensive measure. You can spot them pretty easily after a while." Marie held the shooter out to Delta, her grip now on the barrel rather than the trigger. "You ready to do this?"

Delta had instead moved over to the kettle, staring down at the blue steel with confused eyes.

"It's a kettle…" She muttered to herself, reaching a foot out to touch it.

"Oh cod help me." Marie looked up to the sky. "Yes, Captain Obvious. Anything else you want to point out?"

" _Why_ is it a kettle?" Delta kneeled down.

"That…I actually don't know." Marie conceded with an approving frown. "Trust me, it's not the worst of questionable design choices you're going to see down here." Delta gave a shrug, managing to get herself over the kettle. In her eyes, if design didn't have a function, it wasn't worth her attention.

Delta took the shooter from Marie's hands. It was small but sturdily made—the stabilizer fit snugly into Delta's shoulder almost as if it was made for her, but the black barrel was short and the yellow chamber was small. Delta expected its rate of fire was a little less than desirable, but one look at the muzzle proved that it was engineered for battle rather than sport.

"That's yours." Marie commented. "It's the latest version of the new Hero Shot. Obviously still a prototype, but hopefully it will grow with you as you learn with it. And while I'm on the subject of equipment…" Marie dug into her kimono's pocket and pulled out a small black case before handing it to Delta.

"Put these in." Marie said as Delta opened up the case to find two tiny discs submerged in liquid. "They're contacts with tiny little cameras embedded inside them. They'll help me see whatever you're looking at."

"You're not coming?" Delta asked as she fished out a contact.

"No." Marie shook her head. "I think my identity's been compromised, so I'd rather not enter unless you're in trouble. Plus someone always needs to stay behind and watch the escape route. I'll be guiding you through the radio comms instead."

"Understood." Delta popped the second contact in, hearing a soft squish as it lined up with her eye. She put her hands on her Hero Shot and looked down the kettle's grate.

"Ready?" Marie let out a breath. Delta nodded.

"Good luck out there. You're gonna need it." Marie gave her new recruit an encouraging nod as Delta shifted into squid form and leapt into the kettle.

Agent 4 dropped into a respawn pad, and she cautiously stood into her humanoid form.

"All right, Four." Marie's voice crackled into her headphones. "Video feed is coming in solidly. Can you hear me?"

"Perfectly." Delta replied, bringing a hand up to adjust the pyramid-like headphones sitting around her ears.

"Good, sound's working on my end too." Agent 4 heard Marie shift in her seat. "Take a look around and let's see what we've got to work with." Delta did as she was told, scanning the area and taking in her surroundings. She knew she was underground, but she couldn't help but notice the yellowing colors of the setting sun. Closer inspection revealed that it wasn't a sun as much as it was a computerized dome, programmed to televise a video of a sunset sky. Delta herself had landed on a strip of a road, with twists and turns almost like a maze. Directly in front of her was a short incline, followed by a landing with four wooden crates on top.

"Hmm," Marie muttered over the radio. "Looks safe to approach, but take it easy. Octarians like to hide in crates for ambushes."

Agent 4 took a slow step forward, keeping a close eye on the boxes. She advanced slowly…slowly…until she was in range before clicking the red button on her tank and hurling a splat bomb at the crates. It exploded in a burst of yellow, crushing the wooden boxes to reveal nothing inside. Satisfied with the security of her immediate surroundings, Delta walked closer until she was at the edge of the puddle of yellow ink.

"Hmm?" Agent 4 caught a glimmer of something shiny in the puddle and peered closer in an attempt to figure out what it was.

"What the…" Marie called over the radio. "Is that…glitter or something?"

"Looks like it only appears when the ground is inked." Agent 4 moved her head from side to side, watching the shimmer stay within the inked zone. "Why is there glitter hidden in this kettle?"

"I…honestly don't know." Marie sounded confused and a little off guard. "That's new. Maybe the Octarians decided to get a little more festive. Anyways we have better things to do than muse over their decorations. Hop on that dash track and let's get to work."

Delta stared at the automatized ramp, wondering if that thing was stable enough to even stand on.

"Just trust me on this." Marie seemed to sense Delta's hesitancy. The rookie agent took a deep breath and stepped on the conveyor ramp. She was instantly catapulted into the air, landing on a tiered incline in a matter of half a second.

"Ha ha." Marie chuckled at Delta's stumble. "Gets your ink pumping, doesn't it?" Agent 4 was about to respond when she saw some sort of ball moseying around in midair. The ball turned around to reveal two wide, green eyes staring down at the new Agent. It let out a bubbly gurgle before cutting its propellers to drop altitude and get within firing range.

"Octocopter!" Marie cried out. "Take it out!" Delta didn't know if it was the adrenaline from launching off the ramp or the sudden threat of a serious enemy, but her Hero Shot raised up almost automatically, and Agent 4 pulled the trigger to shower the cephaloball with pellets of yellow. The Octocopter exploded in a puff of purple smoke.

"Wait." Agent 4 froze, the gravity of her reaction starting to hit her. "What did I just…"

"You didn't kill it, if that's what you're wondering." Marie calmly replied. "Because there was nothing to kill. Low level troopers like Octocopters are created when Octolings sever their tentacles and don't possess their own consciousness. And even if they did, their own respawn pad would pick them up—but because of the power issue Octarian respawns are backlogged for about a month."

"Huh." Delta carefully vaulted over the tiered levels and made her way to the top. "By the way, why is everything floating?"

"Octarians like to flaunt their technology." Marie answered. "They love their antigravity tech, and after a while the nonsensical platforms just became part of their aesthetic." She paused. "Hit that rail with some ink and hop on. It's a pretty fresh ride." Agent 4 did as she was told and leapt on, trusting that the rail would be able to hold her weight. It did, and she stumbled at first but managed to make it through without falling off. Her feet landed in front of another aerial dash track. She decided to jump into it, only to land on a platform right in front of another Octocopter.

The dangling tentacle spotted her quickly, and wasted no time in shooting at her. Agent 4 had little time to duck behind one of the nearby walls for cover. She gripped her Hero Shot, waiting for the volley of purple to end. She spun back out, finger already on the trigger and splatting the Octocopter in a matter of moments.

"Hmm." Marie muttered over the radio. "Not bad. Not bad at all."

"Thanks?" Agent 4 replied as she eyed the distance between her landing and the next one. She flipped into a squid, nearly launching herself across and onto the next ride rail. The maneuver landed her in front of a suspicious line of purple Octo ink.

"Ah." Marie began as a giant column of ink shot out from the nearby wall. "Ink pistons. I don't recommend you touch those."

"Well I kinda gathered that." Delta replied, waiting for the piston to retract before crossing. Her progress rewarded her with even more pistons to pass.

"Ha." Marie let out a chuckle at Agent 4's quip. "But seriously, don't touch those. They…" Agent 4 heard Marie clear her throat. "…aren't a fun way to go."

"Sounds like someone speaks from experience." Agent 4 teased, spotting another Octocopter and making short work of it. After her third splat, Delta was growing more comfortable with combat.

"Ok, I'm impressed." Marie commented. "You seem like you actually do have some tactical training, even outside the occasional motion in Turf War. Where did you learn how to take cover and clear corners like that?"

"You aware of anything about Echo's Edge?" Delta began as she waited for an ink piston to get out of her way.

"Rural farmland with a militant attitude." Marie replied.

"That's one way of looking at it." Agent 4 let out a laugh as she made her way through the rest of the area. "Well, our Turf War coach was a veteran, and a pretty well decorated one at that. When he heard I was hoping to sign up one day, he took me aside and trained me."

"And let me guess, he wasn't done by the time you left for Nationals." Marie surmised over the radio.

"How'd you—" Delta was cut off when she accidentally stepped on a dash ramp, catapulting her into the air. She watched in slow motion as ink pistons shot out at her, nearly impaling her as she narrowly squeezed by them. Agent 4 clutched her chest and gasped for air, wholly unprepared for the near-splat situation she had found herself in.

" _That's_ how I know." Marie answered Delta's unfinished question. "Your ability to aggress without clouding your judgment is a huge asset, and you're right to rely on it. But sometimes I've noticed it prevents you from looking at the big picture. You haven't fully trained your—what did you call it, 'beast mode?'—and because of that you don't yet know how to gauge timing when you're in the zone. I'll let the pistons be my example. Timing is the key to a long and _existent_ life."

"Fine." Agent 4 let out a breath. "So I'm a little rough around the edges."

"It's cool." Marie brushed off Delta's comment as she walked up to another dash track. "At any rate, look left." Agent 4 did as she was told, and found a small pipe's mouth sticking out of the side of the road. "That's what passes as emergency communications around here. There's a little report sheet hidden in the inside pocket of your jacket. Do me a favor and shove it in there."

"Uh…" Delta started as she unzipped her jacket. "Why?"

"All warfare is based on deception." Marie explained as Delta heard her put a book down. "I had some time to brush up on my Octolish, so I forged a report saying that Tentakeel Outpost was attacked by a traitor. And since the Octarians didn't have the resources to put security cameras up here, they should be none the wiser." Agent 4 pulled out a folded sheet of paper with blocky text she couldn't understand, complete with consistent signatures, seals, and watermarks. It was clear Marie took the time to make it as believable as possible.

"But there is no traitor." Delta said as she slipped the paper into the pipe.

"Yup." Marie replied. "You're the one behind the attacks, but the longer it takes for them to figure that out the better off we are. Plus this story has the added benefit of creating distrust within their ranks, slowly weakening them over time." Marie's voice started to pick up in energy, unusual for the laid-back Squid Sister. "Find every way to cripple your enemy, both directly and indirectly. It's a rule of the battlefield."

"Huh." Delta muttered as she continued on. That was an idea her coach had never told her.

"Oh, look—your favorite piston situation." Marie teased as Agent 4 came to another dash track. "Remember to think before you leap this time, yeah?" Delta stared down the aisle of pistons periodically obscuring the path across three dash tracks. She could make out a glowing rim on the other side—she was close to the Zapfish. Agent 4 took a deep breath and studied the pistons, looking for any sort of trend in their movement.

Open, open, open. Agent 4 thought she had one.

Close, close, close. She had it. Delta steeled herself, and leapt onto the dash track. She cleared the first one with little problem. The second one was closer, a little too close for comfort.

"Holy…" Delta heard Marie mutter over the radio.

"CAAAAARRRRRP!" Marie shouted as a piston grazed the back of Agent 4's hoodie. Four winced as her feet final crashed against the metal floor.

"Ahem." Marie cleared her throat, settling down from her outburst. "Sorry." Agent 4 hardly heard her, and instead focused on the lightbulb shaped cage in front of her. A tiny Zapfish sat inside, its frightened quivers sending tremors down its golden scales. Huge, pleading eyes followed the newcomer as Delta froze, taking care to move as slowly as possible.

"It's okay." Delta held her hands up in an attempt to calm the Zapfish down. "I'm not here to hurt you." The Zapfish let out an uneasy gurgle, not sure if it should snarl, greet, or cower at Delta.

"Ouch, that looks like it hurts." Agent 4 noted the electrodes pinching the Zapfish's electric whiskers. Marie went quiet, mildly surprised by Delta's sudden softer side.

"I'm gonna get you out of there, okay?" Delta rested a hand on the surface of the barrier. The baby Zapfish sent a tiny jolt through its whiskers, causing the barrier around it to glow. The electricity sent tingles down Delta's fingers.

"Break the barrier with some ink." Marie spoke up over the radio. "It might spook the little fella, but it won't hurt him."

"You sure?" Delta asked.

"I've done this before, remember?" Marie gave a smirk over the radio. "Geez. For someone who mercilessly eviscerates Inklings in Turf War, you sure worry about Zapfish a lot."

"It's a baby!" Delta defended, placing her hand back onto her Hero Shot. "Who wouldn't feel concerned for a baby?"

"I'm not criticizing." Delta could almost hear Marie hold up her hands in surrender. "Just get out of there, yeah? It's never a good idea to hang out in enemy territory for too long."

"I'm gonna get you to safety, okay?" Delta tried her best to calm the Zapfish down. Marie was right, sticking around was bound to do no good. "Just hang on tight." Agent 4 raised her Hero Shot and opened fire on the barrier.

The shield shattered in a spray of glittering shards, while the Zapfish let out a startled shriek. Delta instantly leapt forward and snatched the baby out of its cage.

"Great." Marie's voice came over the radio once the trembling Zapfish was in Delta's arms. "Bring him back here so we can get him safely stowed away."

"Understood." Delta hugged the golden fish to her chest as she Super Jumped back to the kettle's entrance.

Delta's new friend had since grown to adore her by the time they landed at Tentakeel Outpost. The Zapfish danced around Agent 4, playfully nibbling at her yellow jacket as they passed the Outpost's archway. The Turf War player looked up to find her mentor watching the scene, her features turned upwards in a warm half-smile.

"Well someone admires you." Marie commented as she adjusted her hairclip. "Come on, I'll show you where we keep them." She walked towards the Cabin as Delta followed suit, sliding the door closed behind them. Delta took a confused look around the tiny, rudimentary interior, unsure of how they were going to fit fifty Zapfish inside. Marie gave a knowing smirk in response, and kicked the floor's carpet corner aside. Delta looked down to find a newly revealed trapdoor glistening in the cabin's lighting.

"After you." Marie said as she unlocked the trapdoor, lifting the door open. Delta grabbed on to the mahogany ladder below, taking care to watch her step in the dim lighting. Agent 4 hopped off at the bottom, her feet stomping onto dirt ground. She looked around, her eyes registering nothing but darkness.

"Welcome to the real Cuttlefish Cabin." Marie said as she hopped off the ladder, switching on a nearby mining torch. The high-powered flashlight cut through the darkness to reveal tunnels dug out of the ground—almost like mines. Marie turned her shellphone's flashlight on and led Delta down the center passageway. "It's a good idea to pay attention here—the other tunnels are either dead ends or booby traps."

"All of this…" Delta began as they walked into a large antechamber, complete with a huge column-like tank in the center. "…sat under a tiny cabin?"

"You really thought that was our real base of operations, huh?" Marie turned back to face her protégé with a half-smile. "As I said earlier—all warfare is deception. When we're able to attack, we must look like we can't. We must feign disorder among ourselves and strike when they least expect it. I'd say the little shack above does its unassuming job very well." Delta tilted her head ever so slightly, processing Marie's words. Her thoughts turned to Marie's stage comments on Inkopolis News two years ago. It was a common occurrence for Callie to ask Marie for strategy tips on the live news.

"You sure you know what you're doing?" Delta asked, remembering Marie's nonsensical answers on the show.

"What, you're talking about the show?" Marie replied with a scoff. "Callie couldn't take a hint—that's why my answers were ridiculous. I didn't want to show what I knew on live television. But in actuality I love this stuff." Marie gave a contented sigh, her fingers running through the pages of notes sitting on a nearby desk. "I've been studying strategy in my spare time for ages. I just…wish I was using it under better circumstances." Delta turned to look at her mentor, whose mood had suddenly turned from proud to morose. But the moment passed as soon as it arrived, and Marie was back to herself.

Delta opened her mouth to respond, but was distracted by something nudging her shoulder. She turned around to find the Zapfish she rescued had followed them down the shaft, holding a blue tiger lily in its mouth. It dropped it into Delta's hands, clearly intending it to be a gift.

"You're special." Marie gave a half-jealous scoff as Delta twirled the flower in her hands. "None of the other agents got gifts. I guess you have a way with animals."

"Yeah." Delta absently agreed, admiring the flower's electric blue petals—just like Entrenched's signature color. "I volunteered at a shelter for abandoned Sea Snails before coming to the city. I guess I picked up a knack for pets there." She watched the Zapfish absently float around the room, curiously sniffing the furniture.

"All right, little fella." Marie began, gently nudging the Zapfish towards the glass tank. "In you go." Delta undid the hatch at the back of the tank, feeling a slight breeze as air slipped out of the tank's interior. The Zapfish ducked inside, playfully floating around its new home.

"One down." Marie let out a calming sigh. "Forty-nine to go."

Delta gave a silent nod in agreement, her fingers tucking the flower into the inside pocket of her jacket.

She now had forty-nine motives to continue.

 **Hey everybody! I want to extend a big thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and followed once again. I really appreciate it! This is another longer one, but the feedback from the last chapter's length was positive, so I'm not terribly worried about it this time. For some reason Fanfic isn't giving me the option to input that silver line to break up scenes, so here's hoping some extra spacing does the trick...**

 **Thank you for reading,**

 **~RisingPhoenix56**


	4. Chapter 3

Marie flipped through Cuttlefish's book until she stopped at a page, her eyes scanning through the chapter on the ultimate rule of the battlefield. She leaned back in her chair, wondering how clever these "hyoo-mans" had to be in order to create such an effective paradigm for war. The words sitting in front of her were well over twelve thousand years old, and yet here she was using them against Octavio in modern combat. Its ideas were how Marie's grandfather led the Inklings to victory in the Great Turf War, coming from behind right under the Octarians' noses. Maybe—just maybe—if she stuck to the book, she could get out of this mess.

Marie stood up from her chair, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach. She took a deep breath as the air suddenly became heavy—as much as she knew going underground was smart for security's sake, Marie found the place suffocating after a while. She climbed her way up to the cabin's surface and opened the door, looking for any sign of Delta. The newly recruited Agent 4 should have been returning soon from her third mission, but Marie found no sign of the squidkid. She shrugged, figuring that Delta had some ground to cover before reaching the cabin—so she wouldn't be back for a little while longer.

Marie was about to shut the door when her eyes landed on the old guard chair the NSS used in Octo Valley. She walked over to it, running a couple fingers across the shiny steel armrest. How long had it been there? Marie figured that in her haste to get the safe house set up and running, she failed to notice the old chair. Marie smiled faintly as memories of a simpler time came back to her. Her grandfather would usually be the one to sit in it, waiting for his granddaughters to return from whatever mission he had sent them on. Callie sat in it exactly once, and never touched it again. Marie let out an amused chuckle, remembering the events that lead to the chair's nickname of "The Throne of Punishment," over two years ago…

* * *

Marie gave a contented sigh as she turned up the TV's volume, listening to the suspenseful violins as the protagonist turned a dark corner. It had been a long day of reporting at Inkopolis News followed by working on the latest single, and Marie was happy to be relaxing on the couch with a good movie. She and Callie always tried to get an hour or two to themselves after dinner—normally Marie would spend it studying, but her brain didn't feel like working that night.

"Whatcha watchin'?" Marie felt the cushions sink a little as Callie rested her arms on the back of the couch. It seemed like the raised volume had roused Callie from whatever she was doing in her room.

"The Squiddening." Marie looked up at her cousin as she paused the movie. "It's a horror movie—not suited for light-stomached cousins."

"Hey!" Callie replied, feigning offense. "I can handle a horror movie just fine!"

"Please." Marie rolled her eyes. "You thought Pokemon Red's plot was scary."

"Giovanni was creepy!" Callie protested. "Stranger danger!" She vaulted over the couch and plopped herself down next to Marie, somehow procuring a bag of chips. "I can totally do this. Watch." Callie shoved a chip in her mouth and started crunching, showing no intention of moving away from the TV.

"Uh-huh." Marie folded her arms, unconvinced. "I'll bet you can't make it through without screaming at least once."

"Deal." Callie held out her hand for Marie to shake. Marie chucked at Callie's goof.

"There has to be a punishment first, you knucklehead." Marie playfully smacked Callie's hand away. "How about…aha! If you scream before the end of the movie, you have to be on guard duty for Gramps' next mission." Callie's face shriveled in disgust at the mention of guard duty.

"Ugh." She replied. "Sitting in one spot? Doing nothing? _For an hour_?"

"Hour plus." Marie added. "Depending on what Gramps has planned."

"I don't wanna do that…" Callie mumbled to herself, staring down at her bag of chips.

"Well your room's right over there." Marie taunted, pointing a thumb behind her.

"No!" The determination was back in Callie's eyes after Marie's suggestion to back down. "No, I can do this. I'm as tough as a Salmonid!" Callie grabbed a plushie Chum from the other side of the couch and hugged it to her chest. "Rawr!"

"Suit yourself." Marie held out her hand, and Callie quickly shook it. Marie resumed the movie and gave a sideways glance at her cousin—she was sure Callie was already beginning to tremble.

But to Marie's surprise, Callie kept quiet for much, much longer than she anticipated. There were twenty minutes left of the movie and Marie's best friend hadn't made a peep. Marie looked over at Callie. She had run out of chips and was squeezing the stuffed Salmonid to her chest in a death grip. Callie's eyes were as wide as saucers and her mouth slightly ajar. Marie had started to wonder if Callie was so scared she was past the point of screaming and went straight to fainting with her eyes open.

They had reached the end of the movie. The last remaining protagonist hobbled away from the murder house as the camera panned down to a bunny. The screen suddenly zoomed in on the bunny chewing on clover.

"EEEEEEKK!" Callie shrieked, then quickly covered her mouth with her hand once she realized what she did. Marie burst out laughing.

"That…that's not even a scary part!" Marie choked out between laughs.

"It was just so sudden!" Callie defended. "And I was so amped, it just…fell out…" Callie's face fell into a pout. "Anyway it doesn't count; the movie was basically over."

"Oh no, think again." Marie had recovered enough from her laughing fit to point at the screen that had yet to show the ending credits.

"What?!" Callie asked, incredulous she didn't get away. "You're going to hold me to six minutes left?"

"You shook on the end of the movie, Cal." Marie replied. "Squid's honor—you got guard duty."

"Nooooooo…" Callie whined into her stuffed Salmonid.

…

"Please, Marie." Callie looked at her cousin with big, pleading eyes as they walked into Octo Valley. "Don't make me do this."

"I hear you shook on it, bucko." Gramps chimed in as he straightened up his back—well, as much as he could while leaning on a cane. "Squid's honor, you get guard duty."

"It's just a little hour." Marie reassuringly patted Callie's shoulder. "Gramps and I are only going for a quick perimeter check, you would be just as bored coming with us."

"Yeah, but I would at least be doing something." Callie pouted as she fiddled with her roller. She plopped into the guard's chair with a defeated sigh. "I'm already bored."

"Callie it's been five seconds." Marie deadpanned back. "Gramps and I haven't even left yet."

"You know the rules." Gramps warned. "Stay close to the kettle, don't do anything that takes your attention away from threats."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it Gramps." Callie sighed. "The things I do for my family…"

"You'll live." Marie rolled her eyes as she checked her charger's chamber one last time.

"All right, we're heading out." Gramps said, hobbling his way to the kettle. "Have fun!"

"Ok…" Callie muttered after them. Marie turned to look at her cousin before heading down the kettle. Callie was staring dejectedly at her swinging feet. To a high-energy squid like Callie, guard duty was absolute torture. Marie slipped into the kettle, wondering if she went a little too far this time.

…

"Uh, Gramps?" Marie said as the checked the time at the end of their patrol.

"Eh?" Captain Cuttlefish called back from his position in front of her.

"We haven't been gone an hour…" she began.

"Well that's good." He replied. "Callie will be less peeved at us when we get back."

"We've been gone an hour and a half."

"Carp." Gramps' Bamboozler cane wobbled faster as he tried to speed up. "I guess that hold up at the river cost us more time than I thought. Come on, let's hope she hasn't burned the cabin down out of boredom."

Marie was the first to surface from the kettle, and was greeted by an instant slam, followed by a slight quiver in the ground. She looked up to find a beakon sitting next the guard's chair, and Callie flying high in the air.

"…four hundred ninety-five!" Callie landed on the beakon with her back turned to her cousin, and instantly planted another beakon with her roller. "Three thousand…" Callie morphed into a squid and Super Jumped back into the air. "…four hundred ninety-six!" She landed again, only to plant another beakon and Super Jump once more.

Callie!" Marie called out to her cousin as she helped Gramps out of the kettle. Callie looked over her shoulder mid-jump.

"Guys!" She squealed, running up to them and catching them both in a group hug. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

"What do you mean?" Marie asked, confused. "You didn't think we were in trouble, did you?"

"No…" Callie shook her head. "But the minutes…they just wouldn't stop…" Marie chuckled, understanding what Callie meant. The time was going by so slowly for her, she didn't think it would ever end.

* * *

The voice of Chirpy Chips snapped Marie back to reality. She pulled her shellphone out of her pocket and checked the caller ID before heading back inside.

"Hi, Ma." Marie answered, sitting down on the cot.

"Hi sweetie." Her mother's voice came over the speaker, a hint of relief leaking through her tone. "How are you holding up?"

"Fine." Marie lied before checking the time. "But why are you calling at this hour? It's half past one."

"Where do you think you got your late night streak from?" Marie's mother gave an amused chuckle. "Besides, I figured you'd still be up—what with your radio show and all." Marie gave an agreeing mumble—she didn't know what her producer was thinking, setting up a studying show at one in the morning. The show was weekly, but the late night put Marie in a constant habit of staying up at night.

"Anyways, I'm just checking in." Marie's mother continued. "Did you eat today?"

"Yeah." Marie monotonously replied, preparing herself for the onslaught of nagging that came from an anxious parent.

"Did you do your laundry?"

"Yeah." Marie looked up as the door slid open, revealing Delta quietly ushering the third Zapfish into the cabin. Marie waved a quick hi as Delta ducked down the trapdoor, not wanting to disturb the celebrity's phone call.

"Did you deposit your paycheck at the bank?"

"It's a direct deposit, Ma." Marie rolled her eyes. It had been that way ever since she came to Inkopolis, but her mother could never figure out how direct deposits worked for the life of her.

"Did you clean your kitchen?" Marie's mother continued the interrogation.

"Yeah."

"What time did you go to sleep last night?"

"Around three." That one was a lie. She didn't sleep at all last night—but it would only worry her mother to tell her. The daughter let out a sigh. She knew what this call was really about—random "check-ins" from her parents had risen dramatically since Callie went missing. Marie knew they were worried she would be next to vanish.

"How's Uncle Carl?" Marie decided a change of subject was in order.

"Nearly beside himself with concern, as you can imagine." Marie's mother replied as a stressed sigh came through the speaker. "The doctors are watching him very closely. That's very kind of you to ask, sweetie."

"I know Callie would have wanted me to." Marie's response was grim. Uncle Carl—Callie's father—had suffered a major heart attack when the Squid Sisters were on tour promoting Ink Me Up. They had canceled their remaining concerts so Callie could rush to the hospital in Calamari County to be with her dad. It was one of the rare times when Callie's cheery disposition faltered, leaving behind a squidkid terrified of losing her father. One extensive surgery later, and Uncle Carl was left with two hearts and a pacemaker. The cardiovascular specialists warned him to watch his stress levels in order to prevent another heart attack, and Callie's disappearance had to be a massive trigger.

"I know." Marie's mother's response was equally somber. "And it's nice that you're checking up for her. Both your uncle and your aunt are taking this really hard, what with the timing and all."

"Timing?" Marie's brow furrowed in confusion.

"You didn't know?" Marie's mother seemed a little surprised at her daughter's response. "They had been hearing less and less from Callie in the time leading up to her disappearance. You know she usually calls home as often as you do—about once a day. But apparently her calls gradually became less and less frequent, and whenever her parents called, she would laugh it off, reply that she's busy and say she'd call back. Except she never would. By the time she was supposed to come home, your aunt and uncle say they hadn't heard from Callie in two weeks."

"Two weeks?!" Marie was stunned. For a family oriented squid like Callie, two weeks was unheard of. Callie would never ignore her parents for even a few days, let alone two entire weeks. Something was wrong.

"Yeah." Marie's mother seemed to agree with her daughter's thoughts. "They were hoping to talk to Callie about it when she came home, but..."

"She never did." Marie pressed a hand to her head.

"I was hoping you might be able to shed some light on the situation." Marie's mother continued. "But it seems you know as much as I do."

"F-first I've heard of this." Marie tried to suppress her wince. Callie's lack of communication was a huge red flag, one that slipped right under Marie's nose. And it simply shouldn't have. The fact that this was news was a stark reminder that Marie had let their friendship drop.

"Anyways I gotta go now, Ma." Marie remembered that Delta was already waiting for her underground. "Work and all that. Talk to you later, okay?"

"Ok sweetie." Marie's mother replied. "Make sure you still get some sleep. Love you."

"Love you too, Ma. Bye." Marie hung up but sat on the cot for another moment, her brain whizzing with thoughts and an ever-growing sense of guilt. Had winning the Splatfest really made Marie so self-centered she was oblivious to her cousin's distress? The mere idea made her sick to her stomach.

* * *

Delta wandered around the base's main chamber as she waited for Marie to get off her phone call. She cracked a smile at the realization that even celebrities were beholden to their parents at times. Delta looked around the room. Now that she had time to herself, Agent 4 began to notice little intricacies she hadn't noticed before. The place felt like a mini military bunker—complete with a pantry of non-perishable, easy to prepare foods and a sleeping quarters stacked with bunk beds. Weapon racks lined the hallway leading into the room, but Delta noticed a conspicuous lack of weapons themselves. Aside from Marie's charger and Delta's own Hero Shot, Agent 4 had hardly seen a weapon in the entire facility. Delta's curious eyes turned toward the desk, where an old piece of parchment lay on the surface. She walked closer, and the inky scribbles shifted into a traditional sketch of an octopus, two of its tentacles crossed against its torso. Aside from the elaborate headdress sitting atop its head, Delta's eyes were drawn to a neon green X scratched across its dominant tentacle.

"That's Octavio." Marie's voice sounded behind Agent 4. Delta whirled around to find the pop star standing at the room's entrance behind the rookie agent, her yellow parasol tucked underneath her arm. "He's the leader of the Octarians, and the brain behind our headaches right now." Marie walked over to the desk, scrunching the parchment into a tight ball. Delta could see the tiny muscles in her hands squeeze closed as she turned the sketch into a stress ball.

"What do we know about him?" Delta asked, watching Marie shoot the sketch into a trash can on the other side of the desk. She missed.

"Not nearly as much as I'd like." Marie replied as she picked the trash up and dropped it in the bin properly.

"He's a DJ, and at least a hundred and thirty. He's also got some serious control issues. He fought my Gramps at Arowana Castle in the Great Turf War. Personally led the war effort on the Octarian side back then too. The Great Zapfish's last disappearance was the work of Octavio, too."

"So you fought him before." Delta thought back to Marie's explanation of the NSS, stating she was one of the agents who brought the Great Zapfish back.

"Indirectly, yes." Marie confirmed, her features sagging a little. "I was working comms with Agent 1, while 3 did the fighting." Marie let out a sigh as she began to walk around the room. "But that doesn't help me much now."

"Um..." Delta began, noting Marie's pacing behavior. "You okay?"

"Hm?" Delta's question caught Marie off guard, who looked down at herself. "Oh! Yeah, yeah I'm fine. A-anyways, let's move on." Delta raised an eyebrow at Marie's unconvincing response, but let the pop star drop the subject.

"The last kettle's the giant pink one in the center." Marie continued. "You can't miss it. It should be a short run, so let's just get this one in the bag." The pop star lightly clapped Delta's shoulder as Agent 4 scooped up her Hero Shot, checking the chamber before heading to the ladder.

"Giant pink one in the center." Delta readjusted the straps on her ink tank. "Got it. One more Zapfish, coming right up." Without another word, Delta was out of the cabin and on her way to the last kettle.

* * *

Delta's form fizzled into being from the respawn pad, and she stood into kid form to find…nothing. That was not what she was expecting. She looked out at the giant disk of steel, certain to find some sort of resistance but not spying a thing. Apart from a pool of purple ink in the center, the kettle was empty.

"Um," Delta began, finding words to enlist Marie's explanation for all this. "Where is everyone?"

"Oh." Delta heard Marie put something down before beginning her response. "I forgot to mention this. This particular kettle is supposed to house the region's Great Octoweapon. They surprisingly aren't guarded by Octarian troops."

"Great Octoweapon?" Delta echoed. That didn't sound good.

"The Octarians like to show off how smart they are by building these giant war robots." Marie explained. "They used them in the Great Turf War, but the Octoweapons…malfunctioned—and we ended up winning. There shouldn't be one here, so feel free to grab that Zapfish and head on back." Delta peered closer. Marie was right, there was a Zapfish trapped in the center of the purple pool.

"Are you sure about this?" Delta asked over the radio as she stepped onto the Super Jump pad. "This really doesn't feel right." Her feet landed on the giant steel circle, and the charged atmosphere suddenly couldn't feel more wrong.

"Oh totally." Marie assured. "Octavio only just got the Zapfish. It's highly unlikely he grew a brain and decided to develop Octoweapons first and other defenses later. There just hasn't been enough time to develop them, let alone bring—" Marie was interrupted by a massive tentacle exploding from the ink, breaking the Zapfish's barrier in an instant and dragging the poor thing down into the depths of purple. Delta's gut clenched itself into a knot in the heartbeat of silence that ensued.

Light sprouted from the ink, heralding an octagonal shape peeking out from the pool. The figure rose and rose until it became a column of metal towering over the tiny Agent 4. It…shrieked, launching pistons of some sort of brown out from its sides.

"You wanna finish your sentence?" Delta quipped, but she didn't have time for further japes. Green eyes hiding behind oven doors narrowed at her. Delta withheld her discomfort and started inking the ground, searching for places to take cover.

"Oh." Marie's voice crackled through the radio. "Well, carp."

"Does your magical strategy genius have anything to help with this?" Delta swam out of the oven eyes' sight as the Octoweapon shuddered. She heard an unexpected ding as a brown loaf shot out in front of her.

"Wait." Delta took the few seconds to study whatever came out of the Octoweapon. "Is that..."

"Bread?" Marie finished for her. "This thing is an oven?" Delta looked at the oven door once the giant loaf of bread had retracted. Four hundred and twenty five degrees of pain, the inscription read. This was a gigantic weaponized oven.

"Why?" Delta had to ask the obvious as she pointed her Hero Shot forward to ink another escape route. Another ding sounded and she instinctively turned her head towards the noise, and instantly regretted that decision. Wide, green googly eyes stared back at her—seemingly stuck staring into her soul. Its mouth was held open in a perpetual gape. The ends of the loaves had faces, and this one was less than three inches from Delta's own head.

"AAAAGH!" Marie's scream was so loud it caused static over the radio. Delta could only imagine what that looked like on Marie's screen.

"Bweeeh..." The...loaf...moaned. Moaned.

"GET IT AWAY!" Marie shrieked. Delta didn't need to be told twice. She morphed in an instant, jumping into ink and hightailing it out of the loaf death stare. As she swam around the oven, Delta realized all loaves on every side had ejected. That gave her an idea.

"It moaned in my ear..." Marie whimpered over the radio as Delta covered a loaf in her fern colored ink.

"It moaned in my face!" Delta retorted as she swam up the bread. She heard Marie huff, then go quiet. Agent 4 inked the oven's wall in moderate peace, using the path to swim to the Octoweapon's tentacle up top. She focused on the pulsating tentacle, unloading an entire tank on its glowing X. It eventually erupted in a sputtering of purple, retracting back into the Octo Oven.

"Hey, not bad." Marie seemed to have recovered from the incident with the face slice. "But donut stop. You knead to keep going."

"...What?" Delta stopped dead in her tracks.

"Give me my puns." Marie replied. "I need to distract myself from the mental scarring that just happened." The Octoweapon recovered from Delta's barrage by the end of Marie's sentence, and it shuddered again—this time launching purple pillars onto the battlefield.

"Churros!" Marie excitedly exclaimed.

"That's an ink death pillar." Delta corrected, reclaiming turf in the battlefield.

"I'm hungry, ok?" Marie let out a disappointed sigh. "Anyway, don't die and keep doing what you're doing—and we should be golden brown."

"Understood." Delta swam behind a purple churro pillar. The Octo Oven shuddered again, heralding another splay. Delta's prediction was right—the Octoweapon's loaves sprang out at the telltale ding, moaning once again. Agent 4 wasted no time inking up the side again, avoiding the new metal patches. She soon found herself face to face with the tentacle once again and splatted it as fast as she could.

"Good." Marie's voice was back on the comms. "But doughn't start loafing around now or things might go a rye."

"Marie," Delta said very calmly, despite her growing agita. "I don't care if you're a celeb, if I hear one more pun…"

"Fine, fine." Marie replied. "Whatevs—just focus on the battle, yeah? If you don't feel like dousing yourself in deadly purple, I suggest you move away from the giant glazing machine."

"The what?" Delta looked up from the ground to find a massive beam creeping slowly toward her, showering the ground with purple ink. "Carp!" Delta was moving instantly, inking herself a path away from certain splattage. She came to a hard stop, narrowly missing a loaf that would have slammed into Delta if she kept running.

"Huh?" Delta muttered, catching sight of a metal sheen on the bread that wasn't there before.

"That looks like armor." Marie said. "But…armor? On bread?"

"It doesn't even work." Delta shot at the wheat next to the "armor," easily creating a new path upwards.

"I…" Marie was too confused to form sentences. "I don't…" Delta was on top of the Octoweapon again. After one last clip of Agent 4's Hero Shot, the Octoweapon started shuddering—more violently than ever before. Delta, sensing that her position wasn't safe, Super Jumped back to the steel disk. She watched from afar as the Octo Oven ejected all of its loaves, each one more burnt than the last. It bulged, and bulged and bulged until the Octoweapon was an inflated ball of…something—and then exploded into a giant spray of turquoise ink. Nowhere was safe from the Octoweapon's guts, and Delta instinctively flinched as the ink splashed harmlessly into her face.

"Heh heh…" Marie let out a smug and mischievous chuckle. "He's toast."

"MARIE!" Delta growled in amused frustration, taking a step towards the newly liberated Zapfish.

"I'm done, I'm done!" Marie chuckled over the radio. "I know you're smiling."

"Shut up." Delta wiped the smirk off her face.

"Just get that Zapfish back here, yeah?" Marie finished. "We need to talk next steps."

* * *

The new Zapfish quivered in Delta's arms as she walked up to Marie. She adjusted her grip on the tiny fish, taking care not to touch its electric whiskers. Agent 4 was beyond tired at this point, taking down an Octoweapon turned out to be tough work. No surprise there.

"Ah, you're back." Marie motioned for Delta to follow her inside, where the agents slipped down the trapdoor and stashed the new Zapfish into the tank.

"So what's next?" Delta let out a yawn. "I guess we move on to the next area, right?" Agent 4 heard a faint banging sound coming from the tank, but chose to ignore it.

Marie opened her mouth to respond, but closed it and suddenly started patting her kimono down, looking for something. She found it, pulling out a purple-sleeved book and was instantly flipping through its pages.

"What's that?" Delta pointed to the book, extending a finger towards it.

"It's mine." Marie instinctively drew the book closer to herself as the banging from the tank continued. She paused as a brief look of remorse flashed across her face, and her features softened a little.

"Sorry." Marie apologized. "It's actually my grandpa's. It's just…very important. It's the only copy in the world as far as I know and it's very old, so it needs to be handled carefully. And it's our best shot at getting through this."

"Huh." Delta retracted her hand. Touchy subject, she figured. The incessant banging finally caught Agent 4's attention and she turned towards the Zapfish tank to find one repeatedly bonking its head on the glass with wide, vacant eyes.

"Oh." Marie brought herself out of her text. "I didn't even realize it was Larry we saved today."

"Larry?" Delta repeated. "Is he okay?" She poked a finger at the glass in front of the Zapfish.

"Oh yeah he's fine." Marie replied. "He's just…got a screw loose. He was one of the Zapfish we rescued two years ago and he was doing that back then, too." Larry pulled back from the glass, only to slowly drift back to it with a soft bonk once more.

"Why is he doing that?" Delta asked as Larry's mouth began to pucker. He pulled back again.

"I couldn't tell you." Marie shrugged, closing the purple book and turning towards the tank. "He's not cramped—Callie once took him out of the tank to see if he'd stop and he kept bumping into her instead." Bonk. The Zapfish's mouth was plastered against the glass in a perfect O as he stared off into space. "Larry's just…not entirely there."

"Huh." Delta wasn't entirely convinced Larry was fine. Then again, with her lack of sleep she wasn't sure she was far off from his behavior herself.

"Anyways." Marie continued. "I need time to plan our next move, set up our cover stories, and figure out how the Octarians are responding to our attacks. And you look like you're going to pass out any minute. I think it's time for a break."

"You think…" Delta yawned. "You think we have time for that, what with Callie missing and all?"

"I know." Marie's features turned somber at the mention of Callie's disappearance. "But I also know that we'd never find her and we'd be in trouble ourselves if we rushed things. I'm going as fast as I can, but it's still going to take time and planning." Marie let out a sigh, her shoulders drooping lower. "And we have to be okay with that."

"Right." Delta figured the pacing was Marie's call, she seemed to know what she was doing. Plus, Agent 4 wasn't really in a mood to argue.

"Go home, get some sleep." Marie suggested. "But don't tell _anyone_ about this. Understand?"

Delta nodded before heading towards the grate to Inkopolis. She had no idea how to lie in front of Dylan and the others.

* * *

 **Hey everyone! I want to extend a big thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited and followed thus far. And welcome to new readers! This chapter took me a little longer because some of the scenes had to be on point and…weren't. So I took some extra time to try to flush it out. This was honestly one of my favorite chapters to work on, maybe you can figure out why…**

 **~RisingPhoenix56**


	5. Chapter 4

Marie scrolled through the list of chats until she found Callie's name. She had headed back to her apartment after securing the cabin at Octo Canyon, and had finally decided to take a nap. Now that she felt like she was finally doing something to help her cousin, Marie could let herself fall asleep—and she slept like coral.

Marie was browsing her shellphone in bed when she figured looking through their last texts to each other might reveal some sort of clue about what had happened. Marie tapped Callie's name and began to scroll back up, past the tens of messages Marie had sent earlier asking where she was. An unexpected flash of purple flew by onscreen, causing Marie to scroll back down. Turns out there were messages Callie sent that Marie had missed. Three of them, in fact:

" _Hey I found your phone! ;p"_

" _Oh, wait…"_

" _Shut up"_

Marie let out an amused chuckle at her cousin's antics. She checked the timestamp on the texts—they had come in a few days before Callie had gone missing. Marie had left her phone at the apartment in a rush that day. Callie must have found it, and then texted Marie on impulse before thinking about it. And Marie hadn't seen the slip-up until this morning.

Marie's screen faded out as a number popped up on top of the screen. She jumped a little when her ringtone started playing—she wasn't expecting a call to come in so suddenly. She fumbled with the "answer" option as she tried to get Split and Splat to stop playing.

"Hello?" Marie answered, clearing her throat in an effort to wake her voice up.

"I'm sorry ma'am, did I wake you?" The squid on the other line must have picked up on the grogginess in her voice.

"No," Marie pulled the covers off of herself and sat on the edge of her bed. "No, not at all. What's up?"

"This is Detective Alex speaking." The squid's tone was back to curt. "I'm the detective in charge of Ms. Callie's case, returning your call inquiring about search parties."

"Right." Marie pressed her fingers to her temple in an effort to appease the instant migraine. Dealing with the police had been an absolute nightmare.

"Since Ms. Callie has been missing for over twenty-four hours, conducting official search parties are allowed and recommended at this time." Detective Hyuman continued. "In fact—because Ms. Callie qualifies as an official missing person—we are able to assist in said search parties. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance in this endeavor. Thank you, and have a nice day."

"Thanks." Marie called after the detective before he hung up. It wasn't a "thank you for looking" as much as it was a "thank you for letting me waste your time." She knew that the police had zero chance of finding Callie, no matter how hard they looked. Marie had failed to mention anything about the New Squidbeak Splatoon when she was first questioned. Without the knowledge that Callie was Agent 1, the police were doomed to search anywhere but Octarian territory—and that was exactly what Marie wanted them to do.

Marie stood up from her bed and ran her hands through her tentacles, shaking them out from their crooked sleeping position. She groggily moseyed her way to her desk and opened her laptop, brushing away notes from older strategies. Marie let out a tired yawn as she plopped herself in her chair. She probably should have slept more.

But there was too much to do. Now that she had the go ahead from the police, Marie could start the search party theater of her plan—which was crucial to the NSS operation. Delta's success in Tentakeel Outpost was largely due to two factors: the lack of cephalopower on the Octarian side and the surprise of the attack. Both weren't going to last long without some sort of strategic support. Marie had no doubt that Octavio was going to send troops to investigate Octo Canyon if she didn't do something about it, and fast. According to Gramps' book, Marie needed to give Octavio a distraction—a big, scary distraction to direct his troops elsewhere. And what was more terrifying than a horde of frantic, rabid Callie fans looking for their idol?

Marie's fingers typed away at the keyboard, setting up the websites for the search parties was easy enough. All she needed to do was make sure they were the largest, loudest, most extravagant she could make. The hard part was deciding where she should lead them. Marie couldn't bring a mindless mass of Inklings into Octarian territory—not if she didn't want to be called a mass murderer. Marie pulled up a map of the immediate terrain around Inkopolis while opening up her desk drawer. She pulled Gramps' book out to help her find the right spot.

Marie opened to the table of contents and ran her finger through the list of chapters, until she found the one labeled "nine situations." Chapter eleven, page fifty-six. She skimmed through each of the situations until her eyes landed on "contentious ground." Marie closed the book slightly, thinking. Octavio wouldn't have the guts to attack already fortified contentious ground, right? Especially if it was a high place… Marie's gaze drifted back to the map on her laptop.

Mount Nantai.

That was perfect. It was a mountain, and whoever gets the high ground enjoys one of the most defensible sites in a war. Mount Nantai would absolutely qualify as contentious ground. Not to mention it was right next to Octo Valley—Octavio would be sweating buckets if he found groups of Inklings camping out on the mountain. And if he thought Marie was the one leading them? Such a discovery would absolutely force him to divert his troops towards Octo Valley, and away from Octo Canyon.

But in reality the real threat would be the "traitor" carving through the weakened Octo Canyon. Marie quickly jotted her ideas down on a piece of scrap paper, ensuring she wouldn't forget her new plan. She would have to get to work implementing it later today—the faster the search parties were up the safer it would be to work in Octo Canyon. She changed out of her pajamas and into her kimono before heading into the kitchen to find some breakfast. Marie opened the fridge to scour for yogurt and fruit.

"Hey—" Marie started out of habit as she turned toward her cousin's door, then shut her mouth at the futility of her behavior. She'd momentarily forgotten there was no Callie to call out to.

* * *

"Hey Delta!" The exhausted Inkling woke to the sound of someone banging on her door. "Time to get up, you've been sleeping all day!" The voice vaguely registered as Dylan's as she rolled over and checked the time on her bedside clock. 1:30.

"I'm up, I'm up!" Delta hastily sprang out of bed and started changing out of her pajamas. She hadn't meant to sleep _that_ long. "Just gimme a sec!"

"Right." Dylan called as he patiently waited outside her apartment door. Delta pulled a Navy King tank over her head and looked in the mirror, straightening out her twin long tentacles and changing their color back to blue. It would have been a mistake to let Dylan see her in the green she used for the Octo Oven. He would have asked about it for sure.

"Okay come in." Delta called after brushing her teeth. She heard the front door open and went to meet her childhood friend in the kitchen.

"Lucky digs." Dylan complimented, looking around Delta's apartment as he held out a protein bar for her to grab.

"Yeah." Delta replied, taking the rudimentary lunch. "Tournament admins didn't want me in the same apartment as a bunch of guys so…" She shrugged. "As the only girl in Entrenched, I get a whole apartment to myself."

"Lucky stiff." Dylan gave a disbelieving chuckle. "Did you know Kai snored the entire night?"

"I'd believe it." Delta cracked a smirk as she took a bite of the protein bar.

"Anyways, come on." Dylan started heading out the door. "Today's our day to explore Inkopolis, remember?"

"So the gang and I went through most of the stores this morning." Dylan explained as they walked down the boutique side of the Square. "And there's one I gotta show you." Delta's shellphone buzzed as they passed HeadSpace. She pulled it out to find a text from a new number:

" _Use this number if you need to reach me._

 _-2_ "

2\. Agent 2. Marie. Last night wasn't a dream. Delta looked up at the back of Dylan's head as he led the way. She pocketed her phone, saying nothing—until she realized his feet were stepping ever closer to the grate leading to Octo Canyon. Delta's hearts skipped a beat, and she was about to shoot an arm out to stop Dylan when he abruptly turned left, walking into the nearby store.

"Here we are." Dylan said as he opened one of the double doors for her. She stepped inside to find a weapons dealer's dream. Rows upon rows of Turf War weapons were mounted against the walls while sub-weapons were stashed inside the glass counter. The place looked like a hardcore hunting store, but for opposing Turf War players.

"This here's called 'Ammo Knights.'" Dylan said as he slipped his hands into his hoodie. "And the store owner should be around here somewhere…"

"Here, here!" A brown bump stuck out of the door behind the counter. "I'm coming!" Delta watched the bump scuttle around the counter, turning out to be a very short horseshoe crab as he came up to the customers.

"Hey Sheldon." Dylan greeted. "What's new?"

"C over lambda!" Sheldon proudly grinned, waiting expectantly for his customers to get his joke. Delta and Dylan stared at him for a beat. "Hehe…get it?" He nervously chuckled. "No? It's because of the quantum energy equation nu-"

"It's okay Sheldon." Dylan cut him off, raising a hand to stop the horseshoe crab's ramble. "We don't need to know the deets."

"I'm doing it again?" Sheldon wiped the grease off his hands with his mechanic's apron. "Sorry…"

"No worries." Dylan brushed off Sheldon's apology. "Anyways, this was the Splattershot teammate we were talking about earlier." He pointed his thumb at Delta. "Finally got her up from her beauty sleep."

"It's not a crime…" Delta huffed back, crossing her arms.

"Right, right!" Sheldon's eyes widened as his shoulders raised in excitement. "The one from yesterday's opening Nationals match. I reckon you need some new Splattershot parts soon."

"Why's that?" Delta raised an eyebrow. She was no expert, but Delta prided herself in at least taking proper care and maintenance of her weapons.

"Well," Sheldon started rubbing his hands together. "I noticed you REALLY went nuts on that trigger during the match. Don't get me wrong—that was a fantastic performance—but your Splattershot was firing for an average of 30 seconds each minute. Considering that your model had a firing rate of 30 shots a second, we can couple the force generated from each shot with the friction coefficient of the resistors in the stabilizer and compare it to—"

"Okay Sheldon." Dylan held up his hand to stop the horseshoe crab again. "Short version, please."

"...The resistor springs that stabilize recoil in the Splattershot are going to wear much faster with that level of use." Sheldon sighed. "You'll need to replace them sooner than you think." Delta was about to reply when she caught sight of the telltale red scarf tucked underneath Sheldon's apron.

"You come from a military family?" She nodded at the military uniform hidden underneath Sheldon's mechanic apron.

"Oh, this?" Sheldon looked down at his clothes. "I occasionally do some weapons design for the military, so they gave me a uniform since I'm working part time at their base." Sheldon let out a little chuckle.

"Huh." Delta muttered. She was originally going to turn down his offer to replace her weapon's parts, but if he was singled out by the military then his skills were to be trusted. Plus, she felt a sudden kinship with the horseshoe crab. The both of them had a love for the military and vied to be a part of it. Sheldon was just unlucky. "I might bring it over later today then."

"Great!" Sheldon's eyes lit up. "I'll take a look at it and give you an estimate. I'll take good care of it, don't worry."

"You try so hard to be tough." Delta gave her childhood friend a nudge after they left the store.

"Shut up." Dylan's face started to blush.

"'My dude?'" Delta continued. "Seriously? You drop the Squid Sisters for Pearl slang?"

"N-no." Dylan looked away in an attempt to hide his embarrassment, but Delta knew him too well to fall for it.

"Hey, guys!" Kai called from the tables across the Square, waving his arms as if he was directing a car into a parking spot. "There you are!" Delta shot one last knowing look at Dylan before heading over to Kai.

"So where did you guys head off to?" Dylan asked Entrenched's leader as he and Delta pulled up a seat.

"Meh." Kai gave a shrug. "Nothing much. Addam and I just went to the Shoal and played some games. This guy—" Kai playfully smacked his friend on the shoulder. "Is pretty darn good at arcade games."

"Really?" Dylan raised an eyebrow at Addam. "I would never have guessed." Delta would have responded, but she was distracted by the ongoing Turf War streaming on the monitor on the Deca Tower.

"Hey guys." Delta said as she caught sight of flashing colors of ink on the monitor. "You might want to take a look at this." The rest of Delta's team turned to look at the monitor she was pointing out and realized it was showing the end of a Turf War on Goby Arena.

A green roller dared to approach the landing before the enemy spawn, but a yellow Blobbler was instantly there to apply pressure. The roller's tentacles sparked to life when the Blobbler was growing close, and the roller jumped high for a Splashdown—certain he'd caught the Blobbler. The roller got about midway through the air before exploding into a mess of yellow ink.

The spectating camera panned out show a female Inkling charging up another shot on her scoped E-Liter. Two moments had hardly passed before she spun around and nailed another green Inkling at the very edge of her range. Delta could hear gasps and murmurs erupt from the other Inklings watching the match in the Square. A Gold Dynamo Roller appeared out of the spawn point to do damage control while the Inkling with the Blobbler pushed up to the center square. A Rapid Blaster followed suit, clearing the Blobbler's way of opposing players. The team hadn't bothered to ink the first half of the center court, instead concentrating on the side closer to the other team's spawn.

It took Delta a moment to figure out why—the E-Liter player's tentacles flashed to life and she pulled out her Bubble Blower. Three swings later and giant yellow bubbles soon floated over the side of the center that the teammates skipped. All the Inking with the Gold Dynamo Roller needed to do was turn around and fling ink at them and the team instantly covered sixty percent of the field.

The timer started ticking down the last ten seconds while the yellow team advanced to a chokehold near the green spawn. By the time the match was called, the yellow team had destroyed the green, winning eighty percent to twenty. A nudge from Dylan pulled Delta's eyes away from the celebration onscreen.

"Wow." He mouthed at her.

"I think I know who they are." Kai muttered as the two teams emerged from the Deca Tower.

"Who?" Delta asked. Kai opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by shouts from the Deca Tower's lobby.

"Not fair!" The roller from the green team shouted. "We didn't know we were up against Indigone!" A tense moment passed as the green team player glared at Judd.

"Now now." The Dynamo Roller player gripped the other Inkling by the shoulders and nearly yanked him away from Judd, his nails digging into the Inkling's shirt. "You know the match programming lets you see what team you're playing against." The Indigone player started leading the other player away from the lobby and towards the center of the Square, with the rest of the Indigone players following suit. "And last I checked, there was only one Indigone. We didn't earn those national trophies just to have some playboys pretend they're awesome and take our name."

"So that means…" The girl with the E-Liter broke from the crowd and stepped in front of the green player.

"You should have known from the get-go." The player with the Rapid Blaster added.

"So run along now." The Dynamo player gave him a hard pat on the back. "And learn from your mistake." The green team player ran off, and the Indigone player was close enough to notice Delta and her team.

"And who's this?" He began, walking toward the group. Kai and the rest of Entrenched stood up as he approached. "I haven't seen your faces around here." He said as Indigone walked over to Entrenched.

"Uh, yeah that's because we're new." Kai said, tossing Dylan a glance, "We're here for the Nationals."

"Is that so?" The Inkling with the Clash Blaster replied. "You plan on winning at all past your lucky stroke last night?"

"It's a fair question." The roller player followed up, tilting his head upwards.

"Um." Kai gulped, unsure. "Yes?"

"Pah." The sniper scoffed. "And here I was thinking we'd actually have competition this year."

"What do you mean by that." Delta uttered, stepping forward until she was eye to eye with the E-Liter girl. She didn't need to be a genius to see the subtext in the sniper's words was less than friendly—and it made Delta's ink start to boil. Her friends didn't train and hope to make it to Nationals for years to finally arrive in Inkopolis only to be met with that kind of smack.

"Alyssa means you guys are about as fresh as a rotten fossil." The Inkling with the Dynamo Roller stepped in between them. Delta read his straight posture and glaring eyes as a challenge, but she was starting to lose her own head.

"I don't see any competition either." She felt Dylan grab her arm to try to get her to stand down, but she shook him off. "I just see inkbags in my way."

"Cut it, Kylos." The Dynamo player was about to say something when the sniper Alyssa interjected. "We don't need to be listening to these squits." The player named Kylos kept holding his staring contest with Delta.

"Right." He finally said, shortening his posture. He looked past her and over to Kai, giving his patched gear a once-over. "Take it from a pro—you'd better upgrade that gear if you ever want to stand a chance in the Nationals. Grizzco's is that way—" Kylos jabbed his thumb toward the alley to the left of Deca Tower. "They offer measly pay to sorry squits. You're gonna need it—because it's not like you're going to win any more Turf Wars. Murk, Feer—let's move." With a sharp turn away, Kylos and the rest of Indigone walked out of the Square.

A sharp exhale caused Delta to turn around and look at her teammates. Kai was red-faced and nearly fuming. He huffed and looked away. She opened her mouth to say something, but a sound from behind her caught Delta off guard.

"AYYOOOOOO!" A familiar belt came from the stage just above the entrance to the Deca Tower.

"Can all Nationals teams please come to the front of the lobby?" Marina gave a shy wave from the stage.

"Ah, carp." Kai gave a sigh as a growing group of Inklings moved past them. "I forgot about that."

"Wassup?" Pearl called to the growing crowd, arms crossed and clearly relishing the fact she was standing well above the horde of Inklings. "It's ya girl Pearl with Off the Hook—"

"—And we're here to explain to you how the Nationals Scavenger Hunt works!" Marina followed up. "Mainly because Phil paid us another stipend to, but whatever."

"Aight, let's be real." Pearl took a knee in front of the teams. "Most of y'all just got here. So you're noobs when it comes to the stages we play on in the city."

"And knowing the terrain is important." Marina continued, watching the crowd murmur in agreement. "So every year after the first round of battles, the Nationals staff organizes a scavenger hunt to help you guys learn the lay of the land."

"Ya gotta learn five stages!" Pearl slapped an air five against the crowd. "Pira—"

"Whoa, Pearlie!" Marina snagged the microphone out of Pearl's hand just in time. "Let's keep it an actual scavenger _hunt_."

"Anyways," Pearl huffed, snatching her microphone back. "Ya gotta follow the clues on these scrolls—" She kicked an oak chest down to the crowd. "And find a pin hidden on each stage." The chest clicked open to reveal a pile full of tan pieces of parchment, wrapped into rolls with pieces of twine.

"Each scroll contains a different clue to a different stage." Marina explained.

"SO DON'T GO THINKING YA CAN CHEAT OFF OTHER TEAMS, YO!" Pearl nearly shouted into the microphone, clearly ecstatic she got that line in the script.

"P-Pearlie," Marina chuckled nervously. "I think they got it. All right, teams!" Marina turned back toward the crowd with a smile. "The teams that make it back here with all five pins within two hours wins."

"And the winners get ta pick the stage they play on for the next round!" Pearl finished. "SO WHAT ARE Y'ALL WAITIN' AROUND FOR? GET OUTTA HERE!" Marina gave her turntables a spin and a timer counting down from two hours appeared on the Deca Tower's main monitor.

The crowd below exploded into havoc when the countdown appeared, creating a dogpile of Inklings as they dove for clues. Delta calmly stood at the back with Dylan and Addam, watching Kai wriggle his way back to his team.

"I…I got one!" Kai held up the scroll as he stumbled, still trying to regain his balance from getting pushed around.

"That helmet just keeps paying for itself." Dylan commented as he took the scroll, sliding the twine off the parchment.

"'The brush and heart join to become one;'" Delta read aloud, looking over Dylan's shoulder. "'Spend long nights here before you're done.'"

"Huh?" Kai stared quizzically at the scroll. "I don't get it."

"We're gonna need a list of every stage that's approved for Turf Wars." Delta surmised as she tapped Addam's arm. "Go find us a pamphlet or something that we can work off of." Addam nodded, running off towards Judd's pillow in search of a list.

"A place where the brush and heart become one…" Dylan muttered, fidgeting with his tentacle buns. "This is tough. I don't know what's metaphor there and what isn't."

"Come on, we've got to figure it out." Kai replied, tapping his foot against the square's concrete. "The prize is stage rights! That's a huge help to our next match." Addam came jogging back from his foray, pamphlet in hand.

"Let's see…" Kai snatched the paper from his teammate, his eyes darting back and forth as he read through the list. Kai's eyes suddenly widened in realization.

"Inkblot Art Academy!" Entrenched's leader nearly jumped up and down in excitement. "It's gotta be that one!"

"That…fits." Dylan gave an approving frown. "Brush and heart coming together imply art, and you spend a lot of time at an Academy before you graduate." Dylan looked up to find Delta and Addam already running towards the art school's campus.

* * *

"Holy smokes." Delta muttered under her breath as she looked over the Academy's expansive courtyard. "How are we supposed to find a pin in all of this?" Between the Academy's gallery, two cafes, two grass gardens, and center full of sculptures in progress, a pin looked nearly impossible to find.

"It's gotta be around here somewhere." Dylan said once he caught up with his best friend, panting.

"Let's split up and look for it!" Kai brushed off his sprint and started jogging towards the art gallery. Addam shrugged and began to look down the side path to the left of the respawn pad, while Dylan made his way to the right. Delta was left to search the center level alone.

Five minutes of examination revealed nothing. Delta had combed over the two blocks of marble, but found no sign of any sort of pin. She was about to call for the others to regroup when she caught sight of Dylan staring into space, his eyes boring into a wall.

"What's up?" Delta called after him, jogging up to her best friend. Dylan gave her a somber glance before turning his eyes back to the poster on the glass window.

"I didn't know we would have been in the city for this." Dylan jerked his chin at the poster. Delta took a look at the propaganda:

"Don't miss Callie from the Squid Sisters, performing live at the Academy!"

A picture of Callie holding a mic and giving a wide grin to the camera was front and center of the poster. Delta looked down at the bottom for the date of the concert: two days from today. There was no way Delta and Marie could rescue her in time.

"Yeah, well it's not like she could have gone herself, anyway." Dylan grumbled, beginning to take a step away from the poster. Delta silently gulped, feeling the pressure as Agent 4. Dylan was trying to hide it, but she knew he couldn't have been taking Callie's disappearance well. While her thoughts were on the NSS, Delta pulled out her shellphone and held it camera up to the poster. She tapped the small grey button on the bottom of the screen, hearing a granulated snap as the phone took the picture.

"What's with the sudden interest in the Squid Sisters?" Delta froze at Dylan's voice. She had thought he had moved far enough away to miss her behavior.

"Uh…" Delta began, trying to come up with a good enough answer. "I, uh…don't? Have an interest? I was just, uh… observing. Yeah, observing."

"Observing?" Dylan raised an eyebrow. Delta gulped again, realizing she dug herself a deeper hole with her stutters.

"Uh, yeah." Delta had to run with it. "I'm just…keeping an eye open. You know, in case we find something useful for the…police." Dylan let out a curious grunt, but said nothing more and turned back around. Delta let out a nervous sigh, looking back down at her camo-cased shellphone. She needed to learn how to lie if she was going to keep this up.

Once she knew Dylan was far enough away, Delta opened up her chat log. She didn't need to scroll down far to find Marie's number, and wasted no time in sending the picture of the poster to the Squid Sister.

" _Did you know about this?_ " Delta followed up with another text, then pocketed her shellphone and ran to catch up with the rest of Entrenched. It was another five minutes of futile searching before Delta felt a buzz in her pocket. She pulled her shellphone back out and her eyes scanned Marie's reply:

" _No, I didn't. I'll have to cancel it for her. Where did you find that?"_

Delta glanced upwards at Kai and the others—they were busy examining the marble slabs for the umpteenth time. Safe to text.

" _Inkblot Art Academy"_

" _Oh, right. That scavenger hunt thing is today, right?"_

" _Yeah"_

" _Phil's the one behind it?"_

" _Yeah"_

" _You are a fantastically conversational texter."_

" _Yeah"_

" _You didn't hear this from me, but he likes to hide things under trees. Good luck."_

Delta looked up, her eyes searching the courtyard for any sign of foliage. She found a lone tree, sitting in the center of a grass garden off to the side of the marble workplace.

"Hey guys!" Delta called out, pointing to the side yard. "Did we check there yet?" Kai and the others looked over in Delta's direction before heading over there themselves. The team searched around the tree before Addam held up a handful of pins.

"Phew…" Kai let out a sigh of relief as Addam pulled a pin with a picture of an Inkbrush on it out of the pile. "That took way too long, we need to pick up the pace."

"Well," Dylan scooped up a scroll from the pile next to the pins."Then we need to start working on the next riddle." He handed the scroll to Kai. "Do you want to do the honors?" Kai snatched the tan parchment from Dylan's hand and hastily tore the twine off.

"Deep among the crates they covered;" Kai read aloud. "Hide two gems undiscovered."

"Crates..." Delta muttered to herself. "What stages got crates in 'em?"

"Port Mackerel," Kai glanced upwards, trying to recall all the stages from memory. "Snapper Canal...Walleye—"

"That's it!" Dylan interrupted, pointing his finger at Kai in excitement. "Walleye Warehouse!"

"Why?" Delta asked, pulling at her tank's collar. The sun was starting to boil.

"Walleye Warehouse's only claim to fame is the fact that the Squid Sisters worked there before their first record deal." Dylan explained, taking a step toward Delta.

"'Gems' is personified." Delta added. "Since when have you seen gems cover crates?"

"It's worth a shot." Kai rolled the scroll back up.

* * *

Luckily for Delta and the rest of Entrenched, Dylan was right—and the pins were easy to find this time. They managed to make up for lost time, and moved through the next two stages with relative ease—picking up a Seanwich and curling bomb pin at Mako Mart and Musselforge Fitness. They had a half hour left on the clock when they found their fifth and final clue.

"Um." Delta began, turning the scroll around every possible orientation. "Guys, we might have a problem."

"What?" Dylan walked up to his best friend to look over her shoulder. The parchment had no riddle, only "Bob" hastily scribbled onto the page.

"'Bob?'" Dylan asked, scratching his head in confusion. "What sort of stage is connected to a Bob?"

"Maybe..." Delta passed the scroll over to Addam and took a few steps forward, watching the sun set over the city's skyline. "Maybe we don't need a clue for this one."

"Huh?" Kai had a hard time following her. "Remember Off The Hook's intro to the hunt?" Delta turned back toward the guys. "Pearl slipped the first syllable of one of the five stages?"

"...And we've yet to find a stage that fits that syllable." Dylan finished Delta's train of thought. "Pira... Pirahna Pit. She was about to say Pirahna Pit."

"So we're supposed to find a Bob on Pirahna Pit, and that's how we get the last pin." Delta concluded.

"So what are we all waiting for?" Kai jumped out of his seat. "Come on, we can make it if we rush!"

* * *

Bob turned out to be a cranky jellyfish with an aching back, and he was growing tired of team after team chasing him for scavenger hunt pins.

"C'mon guys." Bob seemed pretty much done with Turf War players for the day. "I've told you a million times already. I got no more pins left."

"But that can't be possible." Dylan protested. "There should be one more left for us—they printed out exact amounts."

"I don't know what to tell you." Bob threw his jiggly arms in the air. "A girl came by not long before you and scooped up the last one."

"Wait." Delta replied, a nagging thought popping into her head. "What did this girl look like?"

"And why wasn't she with her team?" Dylan followed up.

"Uh," Bob scratched his bloated head. "She was probably this one's height—" He gestured toward Delta. "Had her tentacles in a long side bang, yellow in color. Black leather jacket."

"Alyssa." Delta breathed. Her theory was checking out. "Did Indigone pick up their pin earlier?"

"Yup." Bob gave a nod. "That roller player and his two friends were one of the first to grab theirs. Said their fourth member was out sick. This girl said her team sent her ahead to make up for lost time." Delta watched the rest of Entrenched's eyes widen as they caught up to her theory.

Indigone had sabotaged them.

* * *

"Hey!" Kai called out to the stage as Entrenched made their way back to the Square. "Cheaters!" Kai pointed a finger at Indigone in the winner's circle.

"What did we do?" Kylos pressed a hand to his chest in a gesture of hurt, but the gleam Delta caught in his eyes gave him away. One look at that sorry inkbag and she knew he was the one behind it.

"You sent Alyssa back to steal the last pin so we couldn't finish!" Dylan pointed a finger at the sniper, who let out a scoff at the brella player. Her features turned into a wince of mild surprise when a pen bounced off her forehead. She looked down to find Pearl standing in front of her, hands on her hips.

"Yo, be straight with me." Pearl folded her arms across her chest. "Did ya steal it?"

"No." Alyssa was prepared to give that answer.

"Turn out your pockets." Marina's voice was commanding, a rare tone for the usually timid DJ. "All of you." Indigone did, and to Entrenched's dismay there was no extra pin to be found.

"Sorry folks." Pearl turned back toward Entrenched.

"Come on!" Kai protested. "They must have dropped it somewhere!"

"We can't help you if you don't have proof." Marina gave a shrug. "And since you guys got here after the two hour mark, I'm sorry to say you don't get the stage rights prize." Kai sighed, and the rest of Entrenched followed him back to the apartments. Delta broke off from the group and headed into her own bathroom, splashing water on her face in an attempt to clear her mind. On top of her new duties to the NSS, Delta now felt the need to keep a close eye on Indigone and make sure they don't try to sabotage the team any further. The dual lives she suddenly found herself living were already filling her inkstream with stress. Delta tried her best to hide it for the rest of the scavenger hunt, but the close call with Dylan shook Agent 4 to the core. Delta gripped the edges of the sink, taking a deep breath.

She would have to talk to Marie about this.

* * *

 **Hey everyone! I want to extend a big thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited and followed thus far. And welcome to new readers!**

 **I had to reread Marie's book so many times for this chapter alone. I'm not complaining though, I think it's an awesome text.**

 **I don't have much else to say, so see you in the next chapter!**

 **~RisingPhoenix56**


	6. Chapter 5

"…we have Terrence on the line, head of electrical maintenance here in Inkopolis." The newscaster called from Delta's TV. "Terrence, how are you doing tonight?"

"I'm…tired, honestly miss." The Inkling on the other end of the video call gave an exhausted sigh as Delta scoured her kitchen cupboards for any scrap of leftover peanut butter. She had invited the boys over to celebrate their most recent win earlier that afternoon, and Kai had a tendency to devour any stores of peanut butter wherever he went.

"Both my men and I have been working double shifts to prepare for a potential energy shortage." Terrence continued as Delta opened a cupboard to find one last jar. Finally. "We still have enough electricity stored in the generators to keep us going for a while, but thanks to the National Turf Wars we're seeing a larger energy output than average—so we're concerned about a city-wide blackout in the coming weeks." Delta unscrewed the cap to the jar and peeked inside. There was about a quarter of peanut butter left for her sandwich. She dug her butter knife into the paste, scooping up as much as she could.

"As the head of energy management," the newscaster continued as Delta padded another slice of bread onto the slathered loaf. "You're one of the most senior experts on the Great Zapfish. Do you have any idea when it will return?"

"I mean…" Terrence began. Delta picked up the plate and walked into her living room, finally settling down on the couch to watch the rest of the news show. "It's not uncommon for the Great Zapfish to leave the Square for a day or two, but three days is starting to push it. Neither the Turf War battlers nor fishers at Pirahna Pit have seen the big guy, and it's not spring so it shouldn't be super active. So because I can't tell where he's gone, I can't say when he'll come back. That's why we're beginning to take precautionary measures."

"Thank you for your time, Terrence." The news reporter cut the video feed and turned to the audience's camera. "We still have no word on pop star Callie's whereabouts, some five days after her disappearance. Police say they are still on the case, but the trail goes cold with her secretary that saw her leave the night she vanished." Delta's brow furrowed as she took a bite out of her sandwich. It had been five days already? Callie's disappearance wasn't broadcast on Inkopolis News until three days ago. Marie kept it under wraps for two days?

Delta's shellphone buzzed as she finished up her sandwich. She reached into her pocket and pulled it out, her eyes looking at the top of the screen to see who had texted her. It was Marie. Delta opened up her phone to read the message:

" _I need you to meet me. You know the place."_

Delta was about to take one last bite of chips when another message popped up on her screen.

" _Now. It's urgent."_

Delta gulped, hopping off the sofa and speed walking to her apartment window. She rolled up the blinds and peeked out at the Square below. It was dinnertime, over four hours earlier than when she first followed Marie down the manhole. The Square wasn't deserted like it was before and the manhole was almost in plain sight. She closed the blinds again, wondering how she'd be able to crawl inside without looking suspicious to the dinner crowds. Her thoughts turned to the alleyway right behind the Galleria. That path connected to Grizzco's entrance, and they had no shifts today. Maybe she could use that to sneak her way in.

Delta grabbed a black hoodie from her closet and zipped it up, making sure to pull the hood over her head. She walked out of the apartment and made her way to the back of Ammo Knights, stealing a peek inside to see if anyone could see her through the windows. But to Delta's surprise, the lights were out and there was no sign of activity in the store. Had Sheldon closed up shop early today? That was a shame, Delta had meant to bring her Splattershot in for repairs.

But that also meant she didn't need to worry about unexpected witnesses from the shop. She made her way to the bonus exchange station just outside Grizzco's, and to her relief there was no one waiting outside for the next shift. Delta morphed into a squid as she slowly crept to the edge of the manhole, and slipped in.

* * *

Delta popped out of the manhole at Tentakeel Outpost, quickly taking a glance around to secure her surroundings. Marie was there to meet her, coming around from the back of Cuttlefish Cabin.

"What's up?" Delta asked, taking a step towards her.

"Were you followed?" Marie paused to adjust the weight distribution of the black tactical bag on her back.

"Uh…" Delta looked behind her. "No."

"Good." Marie tossed another bag at Agent 4. "Put that in that pile over there." She pointed to a growing stack of luggage near the cliff to the left of the manhole. "Go get changed and start moving things over. We need to get the essentials packed and ready to go ASAP."

"What's going on?" Delta asked as she moved toward the cabin.

"I'll show you when you're done." Marie called through the door. "But long story short, this place is about to become overrun with Octarian reinforcements."

"So what's wrong?" Delta fiddled with her bright yellow jacket as she came out of the cabin, fully changed. Marie looked over, standing up from the pile of luggage.

"Come here." Marie pulled out a pair of binoculars as she walked over to the stone archway. "And lay low, yeah? It's over if they see us." Delta took the binoculars, crouching down behind the wall of the archway. She bent forward, bringing the apparatus to her eyes and leaning ever so slightly out of cover. A quick gaze at the cliff on the other side of Tentakeel Outpost revealed a massive floating disk starting its docking sequence. Octotroopers riding its surface hopped off row by row, making slow and clumsy advances toward the four kettles.

"Reinforcements." Delta pulled her head back into cover and returned the binoculars to Marie.

"Tons of them." Marie pocketed the binoculars. "Octotroopers, octocopters, I even saw an Octo Commander regiment pull up. They've been coming in all day long—no doubt in response to our attacks here."

"So what's our plan?" Delta looked to Marie.

"We get out of here." Marie replied, standing up and walking back towards the cabin. "We have to pack everything up and move out before the reinforcements find us." She tossed Delta another bag.

"This is a lot of weapons." Delta commented, looking inside the unzipped travel bag. She didn't recall seeing this many rifles and Turf War weapons inside the base.

"I'm glad you mentioned that." Marie gave a small smile. "I forgot to tell you about him. I don't like that the Octarians have Octoweapons already. That means they've got one stationed in each outpost…which means it's only going to get harder from here on out."

Delta raised an eyebrow.

"So I enlisted a little more help." Marie continued. "If the Octarians get to make big guns, I don't see why we can't either. So I recruited a weapons specialist."

"Who?" Delta asked.

"I'm just saying the inertia from the jump is gonna—" A familiar voice found its way to Delta's ears as a shape popped out from the cabin. He froze as his eyes fell on Agent 4.

"Sheldon?" Delta breathed, stunned.

"Delta?" Sheldon replied, breaking into a grin. " _You're_ Agent 4? Holy carp, this is gonna be epic!" The horseshoe crab nearly leapt in excitement. "I-I mean—" He turned to Marie. "Did you _see_ her Turf War performance the other day?"

"Why else do you think I picked her?" Marie shrugged off Sheldon's words.

"You recruited Sheldon?" Delta turned toward Marie.

"Name a cephalopod that knows more about weapons than Sheldon." Marie replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "Not to mention his knowledge of physics, technology—anything that can be turned into a weapon. We can pack a little extra punch with his expertise."

"Getting that call from Marie was the COOLEST THING EVER!" Sheldon nearly shouted. "To think my weapons could be of assistance to the very same Squidbeak Splatoon my gr—"

"Okay, okay!" Marie gave Sheldon a pat on his shell to interrupt his rant. "We can nerd out about this later, when we're cleared out of here—and then we can do it _quietly_." Marie pressed a finger to her lips.

"Why do we need to do it quietly?" Sheldon asked, looking up at the pop star with innocent eyes.

"Because we can still be caught." Marie nearly hissed through her beak. "And because I have a headache."

"So where are we retreating to?" Delta asked, ready to get to business.

"We're not retreating." Marie moved back to the pile to take inventory. "We're advancing."

"Advancing?" Delta echoed. "That's…gutsy."

"Not if you watch what they're doing." Marie replied, pulling out the binoculars. "Generals aren't magical—they can't conjure troops out of thin air. If they want to reinforce somewhere, they have to take the cephalopower from somewhere else."

"Which causes a stronghold somewhere else to weaken." Delta was catching on.

"Exactly." Marie's beak cracked into its signature half smile. "Our attack here forced them to send reinforcements to check out the disturbance, thereby opening up a weakness elsewhere that we can exploit while steering clear of the troops."

"That was your plan from the start, wasn't it?" Delta noted Marie's proud smile.

"Yup." Marie's attention turned back to the luggage as her smile grew wider. "Avoid your enemy's strengths and attack his weaknesses. It's a rule of the battlefield."

"What about the Zapfish back here?" Delta asked, concerned. "Aren't we going to leave them wide open if we do this?"

"Sheldon has already moved them to his shop for safekeeping until it's safe to come back." Marie answered. "Don't worry, Larry's got plenty of things to bump into."

"So…" Sheldon pressed. "Where are we going?"

"Ah!" Marie pressed a hand to her forehead. "Sorry, I forgot to say. We're going to…" She pressed the binoculars to her eyes, staring into the side of the Canyon. "Suction Cup Lookout."

"That's where the reinforcements are coming from?" Delta asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure of it." Marie closed the binoculars. "I've been watching their movements all day." Their conversation was interrupted by an increase of footsteps on the other side of the archway.

"We need to move." Delta pulled her Hero Shot out of the weapons bag in case they were found. "Now."

"Right." Marie attached a shoulder strap to her charger and slung it onto her back while pointing to another set of packs. "You take those—"

"We're moving out?" Sheldon interrupted, eyes bulging. "Oh my cod this is so awesome! I always wanted to Super Jump!"

"He can't jump on his own." Delta turned to Marie, almost ignoring the horseshoe crab's enthusiasm. Marie sighed before reaching over to unzip the tactical backpack on her bag.

"Put him in." Marie commanded, holding a flap open for Delta.

"…and the vector forces have to be exactly precise in order to land on the desired destination…" Sheldon continued his excited rant as Delta lifted him up and plopped him into Marie's backpack. "…and did you know that any vector force in diagonal motion is actually made up of two different vectors: horizontal and vertICAAAAAAALLLLLLL!" Sheldon couldn't finish his sentence because Marie had already decided to Super Jump to Suction Cup Lookout, causing his words to trail away into nothingness. Delta let out an amused chuckle before strapping the rest of the luggage together and jumping over.

* * *

Delta landed on Marie's marker, but nearly crashed into the singer's frozen form. Sheldon had since quit his lecture to look over at Marie behind him.

"Uh, Marie?" Delta hesitantly poked Marie's shoulder, who stared into space at the lookout's architecture. "Everything ok?"

"Right!" Marie jumped at the contact. "Sorry, sorry. Just lost in thought." She put Sheldon's bag down on the ground, letting the horseshoe crab climb out and start unpacking his makeshift armory. Marie started talking to Delta, but Agent 4 couldn't hear her. Delta's hunter-oriented brain had instead focused on a humanoid shape stirring in the shadows.

"Get down!" Delta hissed, pulling Sheldon and Marie down into a courtyard leveled below the floor's concrete. Marie caught on to Agent 4's warning, holding them against the wall to minimize detection. The Splatoon listened apprehensively to the clink of combat boots as they slowed to a stop above the team. A jaded moment passed as the foot soldier stayed there, almost as if she was looking for something. Delta heard the sound of metal settling as the soldier placed a hand back on her weapon, and walked on.

"Octolings?" Delta breathed once the sentry was well out of earshot. "What does that mean for us?"

"Good news and bad news." Marie released her grip on the other two Splatoon members. "The good news is that they bought the misinformation we gave them. Bad news is that they must have sent Octoling units to every location in the Canyon to sniff out traitors, which is going to make it incredibly hard to maneuver around here safely."

"Then I guess it's a good thing I brought my little friend!" Sheldon dug through his bag to pull out a small, black box with four black rudders branching off each corner.

"Is that a drone?" Delta asked, leaning closer.

"It's not just any drone!" Sheldon's chest puffed with pride. "It's got an insane battery life, nearly indestructible, and can carry—"

"Sheldon." Marie shut him up by putting a hand on his mouth. "In case you forgot…" She lifted the crab up so his googly goggles could peer over the ground on the second floor. "We're in a bind right now." As if on cue, the Octoling sentry returned from patrol, this time at a safer distance. "So if we could just skip the details, that'd be great."

"Fine, fine." Sheldon gave a sigh, starting the drone's tiny engine and syncing the video feed to his shellphone. Sheldon's drone lifted into the air, soaring high above Suction Cup Lookout. Sheldon's video feed caught a total of seven kettles, each one not too far from the other.

"It's a snake formation." Marie spoke up from behind Delta and Sheldon. They turned to face the singer.

"What's that?" Delta asked, clearly not seeing anything remotely like the creature nearby.

"All armies should function like snakes." Marie explained. "If you were to attack the front, the rear can reinforce the front. Attack the rear, and the front can turn around and reinforce the rear. Attack the middle and both sides come in." She paused, gathering the words to illustrate what she was trying to say. "The Octolings serve as the brain behind the Octarians in the rest of the kettles—they're the head. If one of the kettles is attacked, the Octolings can redistribute the forces in the other kettles to counter the attack and catch the traitor red-tentacled."

"So how do you deal with that?" Delta asked, folding her arms.

"Cut off the head." Marie replied after a moment of thought, rubbing a thumb across her kimono's collar. "Before it can send a signal to the rest of the body. Cut off the communication, and the rest of the units will be isolated and vulnerable."

"That means we need to go after the Octoling kettle first." Sheldon started to turn his drone around. "Where'd that sentry go?"

"Find the place by tailing the guard." Delta gave an approving frown. "Not a bad idea."

"Just don't get caught." Marie called from behind them. Sheldon moved the controls slowly, taking care to reach a high enough altitude to avoid detection. The video feed showed a bird's eye view of the lookout. The place was reminiscent of an old schoolyard, with brick towers overshadowing cemented playgrounds. Patches of purple ink dotted steel floors, Delta assumed it was for defensive purposes. The drone turned to the left and the video feed caught a glimpse of movement in the far corner of the compound.

"There." Delta pointed a finger at the sentry making her way across the lookout. Sheldon centered his drone's camera on her, taking care to stay out of her sight. She inked a sponge and swam up to the top of one of the towers, then popped a balloon fish floating against a nearby wall. The guard let out a tired yawn after scaling the wall, transforming into an octopus and slipping down the kettle's grate.

"That's the first time I've seen crop tops as armor." Delta mumbled, raising an eye at the open gap in the steel.

"It's Octoling culture." Marie explained, giving a nonchalant shrug. "At least now we have the kettle. Delta—" Marie tossed Agent 4 her Hero Shot, who caught it midair. "You're up."

Delta nodded as she slid the ink tank onto her back, jogging off to follow in the sentry's footsteps.

* * *

Delta stepped out of her respawn pad expecting to find another narrow path full of traps and illogical bends. She didn't expect to see a familiar sight. "Wait..." Delta began, her eyes taking in the expanse of concrete and grass. "Is this...?"

"The Reef." Marie's voice crackled over the comms. "Yeah it's a near perfect replica, although it isn't the real thing."

"Are they using a fabricated stage to learn the layout of Inkopolis?" The radio picked up Sheldon's voice, although much grainier than Marie's.

"You guessed it." Marie replied as Delta took a couple hesitant steps forward. "This is geography training for invasion day."

"But..." Delta began. "How did they even get this info?"

"Beats me." Marie coughed. "They were doing it even two years ago."

"Whoa STOP!" Delta halted in her steps at Sheldon's sudden bark. "Look at the top of that wall to your left." Delta followed his instructions to find a rotating white box affixed to the wall, rhythmically turning from right to left.

"That's a security camera." Marie spoke for Agent 4. "Nice catch, Sheldon."

"It's a Mark IV, too!" Sheldon continued. "That little guppy can stream all the way to Cephalon HQ."

"You're gonna need to do some serious tiptoeing, Four." Marie's voice turned low. "If you set that off, the entire Octarian military will be after you. And at that point no amount of diversion can help you. It'd be game over for all of us."

"Well how about you come down here and try this yourself?" Delta quipped back. "I can't operate here if the entire Reef is bugged. Some camera somewhere is gonna catch me."

"Well…" Sheldon said over the sound of clacking through the radio. "Let's see if they…yeah they didn't." The security camera to Delta's left suddenly went limp, staring at nothing but the floor.

"What did you just do?" Marie asked, sounding more distant as she looked over Sheldon's shoulder.

"They didn't download the latest security patch!" Sheldon clapped his hands together with pride. "So there was a glaring, easy to hack breach in the firewall. All I needed to do was loop previous footage and deactivate the live feed."

"Sheldon..." Marie breathed. "That's genius."

"It was so cool!" Sheldon nearly shouted, losing his composure. "I didn't need a rubber ducky or anything, or—"

"And here we go again." Marie let out a sigh over Sheldon's continuing ramble. "Please just get this over with, Four. Save me."

"Understood." Delta cracked a small smile as she placed her hand back on the Hero Shot's muzzle. She cautiously walked to the end of the first landing where her eyes fell on a large puddle of purple ink. Agent 4 vaulted up the higher landing on her right, then went prone to minimize detection.

"Hey, peanut gallery." Delta whispered into her jacket's microphone as she brushed a tentacle off her arm. She should probably get a cut soon. "That's obviously a trap. Got any ideas?"

"Splat them!" Sheldon sounded like an eight year old in his favorite action movie.

"Quietly." Marie followed up. "Your primary objective is to prevent them from organizing backup; taking them out is secondary. Take them out, but make sure you do it quietly."

" _How?_ " Delta gestured to her bright yellow jacket.

"Ooh!" Sheldon piped up again. "I think I've got something for that!"

"You do?" Delta heard Marie's incredulous reply over the radio. "How did you—okay Sheldon, you have way too much time on your hands."

"What?" Sheldon innocently replied. "I was just fooling around one day. Delta, do me a favor and detach the briefcase from the drone. Its rudders might get scuffed up otherwise."

"Um," Delta began as a tiny black speck came flying out of the kettle. "How is that not gonna give away my position?"

"Because you're gonna fetch." Sheldon's drone took a sudden turn and plummeted to the ground a good three yards away from Agent 4. Delta sighed and belly crawled to the poor drone, detaching the black briefcase so it could fly away.

"You couldn't just…" Delta's sentence turned to silence as she opened the lid. "Whoa…"

"You like it?" Sheldon beamed through the radio as Delta lifted the galactic-colored helmet out of the case. Her reflection shone back at her in a galactic mixture of blue and purple on a black background. The motorcycle helmet sported a tinted visor with a convenient opening for Delta's long tentacles.

"Go ahead and try it on." Sheldon encouraged. "It starts working once you connect it to the headphones." Delta did as she was told, watching in mild surprise as her Hero Suit morphed from yellow to black and grey. Black fabric enveloped her hands, settling into fingerless gloves.

"You don't stick out like a sore thumb now!" The pride in Sheldon's voice was palpable. "I used the squid ink in the original suit to formulate chromatic alterations and…"

"…and that visor should hide your identity a bit in case you get spotted." Marie decided to hijack Sheldon's rant. "Nice work, Sheldon. Now… we were splatting an Octoling. See if you can draw her out of her ink with a distraction, Four." Delta followed orders, calling a splat bomb from her ink tank and rolling it into the puddle of purple while returning to her perch on the platform above. The bomb exploded into a mess of light green against purple. The blast caused a small ripple in the other side of the purple, which circled around and slowly crept up to the edge of the ink. An Octoling emerged from the ripple, staring down at the new color.

Delta didn't waste her chance. She leapt off the platform, soaring behind the soldier's back. Agent 4 unloaded her Hero Shot at the Octoling the moment her feet hit the ground, and the foot soldier was a cloud of purple in four shots.

"First splat!" Sheldon cheered over Marie's shoulder. Delta didn't have time to reply as incomprehensible speech sounded from the other side of the tree. Delta inked the grass under her feet and hid, hoping that her little speck of green would be passed over in favor of the splash from the bomb. Agent 4 watched as an Octoling turned the corner and caught sight of the intruder's green ink. She raised her Octo Shot in preparation before Delta sprung out of cover and showered her in green.

"Two down." Marie commented. "That was quick."

"Where to now?" Delta asked, rolling her shoulders.

"Hmm." Marie began to reply. "Head towards the central bridge. But be careful." Delta hopped down onto the next landing to her left, Hero Shot at the ready. She made her way to the inflated sandbag in front of her and knelt behind it for cover, waiting for any hint of movement. After a minute of dead silence, Delta decided the coast was clear and began making her way toward the bridge. She nearly jumped back in surprise when a splash wall leapt out at her, showering streams of purple ink to block her path.

"There must be something important over there." Marie said.

"There is!" Sheldon's voice came over the radio again. "Look at those lights on the bridge. They're Squib code!"

"So they are." Marie agreed as Delta turned her head upwards to show her. "Good call. That's a communications node. Destroying that should keep the entire lookout from calling Cephalon HQ for help."

"So I'm taking that as an order to blow up the box thing?" Delta adjusted the armor's helmet.

"Yes." Marie let out a little chuckle. "Box go boom."

"Well m-maybe not _boom_ boom." Sheldon hurriedly put his two coins in as Delta fired at the splash wall to take it down. "Just deactivate! Exploding the thing might as well send an SOS flare to headquarters."

"Uh," Delta began as she walked up to the console. "I'm not too good with the new plan."

"It's okay!" Sheldon beamed again. "I can tell you how! It's a simple radio transmitter that fails to encrypt—"

"Can we skip to the directions part?" Delta said, kneeling down at the console.

"Fine, fine." Sheldon let out a sigh. "Hit the red power button on the right."

"That's…it?" Delta rested her Hero Shot against the edge of the console as she pressed the button.

"Well no, you might want to cut the wires under the panel next to it to make sure they can't just hit the power again."

"Fine." Delta did as Sheldon asked. "Is that it?"

"Don't move." Delta felt hard steel nudge against her back. She heard Marie quietly swear through the radio. Agent 4 slowly raised her hands in surrender while tossing her Hero Shot a quick glance.

"Don't think about it." The Octoling's Inklish was understandable, but coated in a thick accent. Delta saw a foot appear out of the corner of her eye and kick the Hero Shot out of reach before backing into position. "Get up."

Delta hesitated, trying to get a bead on the Octoling's position.

"Now." Delta heard the safety click off as her attacker prepared to fire. Agent 4 slowly raised herself to one knee, then fully stood. Her stomach flipped as she leaned back ever so slightly, hoping to locate the Octo Shot. Delta's breath hitched as her left shoulder blade brushed against the shooter's muzzle.

"Thought you could take Zapfish and leave us no power?" Delta's shoulders tensed at the Octoling's mention of a Zapfish. Marie hadn't told her there was one here. Agent 4 nearly choked on her own breath as her plexus tightened, resolve crashing over her. She wasn't about to die here.

Delta pivoted backwards on her left side, taking herself out of the line of fire and letting her hand grab the Octo Shot's barrel. Her right hand grabbed at the nape of the Octoling's neck, fingers wrapping around to the shoulder. Delta swept her leg at the Octoling's knees, tripping her onto the ground and letting Agent 4 toss the Octo Shot on the way down. She took advantage of the disorientation and scrambled to her Hero Shot, but was unfortunate enough to trip on the edge of the console. Delta fell into prone position, fingers curling around the trigger as Agent 4 flipped onto her back. The Octoling had already crawled to her weapon and was raising it to Delta's chest when Agent 4 fired. The attacker exploded into purple, sending the soul back to the respawn pad.

"Holy carp..." Marie breathed through the radio.

"How...did you even know that would work?!" Sheldon seemed stunned.

"Not...the first time I've fought for my life." Delta panted, pulling herself into a sitting position. "But...that doesn't make it...any less intense."

"Well it's a good thing their respawns are backed up by a month." Marie replied. "Otherwise our cover would be blown. We just need to finish this campaign in a month's time."

"Zapfish." Delta said, standing up. "She said there was a Zapfish here. Where is it?"

"I don't know." Marie let out a sigh. "I didn't know there was one here. Look around for a glowing yellow light—their cages are usually a dead giveaway." Delta looked up at the skyline, locating a glowing beam not too far away. She made her way toward it, carefully checking for further Octolings. The area seemed to be routed, so she made her way to the cage. This one was...different. Instead of the lightbulb inspired barrier, this Zapfish was imprisoned in a cylinder. An electrode dangled from above, attaching to a strand of electric hair on the remarkably small Zapfish.

"You seeing this?" Delta called over the radio. Marie didn't respond at first, studying the sight.

"Get him back here." Marie's voice turned low and sharp. "Now."

* * *

 **Hey! Don't worry I'm not dead. I feel dead because I'm sick as a dog, but this story's still kicking. I'm sorry for my absence throughout the majority of September, I probably worried some of you. Here's what happened:**

 **After the last chapter went out I took a close look at what I had in store for the rest of the story. I decided I wasn't entirely happy with it and that I could do better with more time. So I decided to hold off on uploading the next few chapters and spend this month getting them to a level that I could be proud of, and return to scheduled updates right around now. I sent out a status update on Amino, but this site expressly forbids uploading "chapters" that are just author's notes so I didn't know how to tell you guys over here. I apologize for the lapse of communication.**

 **At any rate, the hiatus worked...to a degree because I got sick. I feel like this particular chapter has some really good scenes followed by areas that could still use some work, but I can't do much better than this at the moment. Writing takes a lot of brain power from me, and I don't have much of that to begin with when I don't feel well. I might go back and edit later, but as for right now-I didn't want to keep you guys waiting much longer.**

 **Thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, read and reviewed the last chapter.** **I hope to have the next one out late next week, but realistically speaking it might be more like two weeks.**

 **P.S. And yes, I am Chekhov's gun-ing the bejeezus out of that charger...**


	7. Chapter 6

Marie let out a tired yawn, pleasantly basking in the first moment of silence she had since the company arrived at Suction Cup Lookout. Delta had been mostly busy moving through the now isolated kettles and hauling back Zapfish after Zapfish, but that left Marie alone with Sheldon most of the time. And Sheldon was a great crab—he'd already proven his usefulness more than once—but he ranted like no tomorrow. Marie had been stuck in a tent with him for the vast majority of the kettles with Sheldon yapping her ear off about one thing or another. Eventually Marie gave up and tasked him with finding the rare "Octoflower" as Delta wrapped up one of the few remaining kettles.

Marie let out a small chuckle. Octoflower. The poor thing completely fell for it, bounding out of the tent and babbling about how fascinating it would be to study. It was almost too easy. It wasn't uncommon for senior members of the Splatoon to play tricks on the new recruits. After all, what was a military platoon without a few pranks?

Marie's chuckle turned into a reminiscent smile. Callie had gotten her good a few times when Agent 2 first started. And Callie relished it. Marie figured it was payback for all the times the green squid got her in their normal life. Callie was just...too easy to trick. Her general lack of awareness and proclivity to impulsivity made Callie a prime target for pranks. Callie was a smart Inkling—Marie would see evidence every now and then. But Callie's problem was that she would forget to think when she was overexcited—which was _all_ the time. Once Marie teamed up with a coworker and really pranked Callie…

* * *

The cousins had worked at Walleye Warehouse once they moved to Inkopolis. Their music career had yet to take off and they took jobs helping move containers until they found a producer brave enough to take on two singers with hardly any experience. Marie hated it, but Callie—true to herself—took it as an opportunity to make new friends. So every morning Callie would be bounding off to the warehouse, practically dragging her sleepy cousin behind her. Callie's bright-eyed enthusiasm was often well met with the other workers, but one day the cousins were paired with a particularly grumpy crab-Simon.

A container trolley broke three hours into their shift, causing Callie to pout and Simon to groan. He got out of the driver's seat and walked over to inspect the sparking panel on the side of the trolley. The container they were carrying had crashed to the ground when the trolley broke, so Marie had walked over to inspect for any damage. She hadn't noticed Callie had followed Simon until she overheard them talking to each other.

"Oh no!" Callie had said. "That looks really bad. How do we fix it?"

"The joint's busted too." Simon grumbled back. "Look, the lifter has completely detached from the base." He paused. "But I bet we could reconnect it with a magnet." Marie turned around to face the two, confusion etched onto her face. A magnet couldn't possibly work, because the trolley's joints were plated in aluminum. Which wasn't magnetic in the slightest. She was about to say something when Callie walked four steps to the nearest junk pile and magically produced a magnet. She innocently went over to the trolley and tried to reattach the lifting mechanism, only to have it fall back apart.

"It didn't work." Callie turned back towards Simon with another pout.

"Oh, really?" Simon was doing his best to hide his snicker. "That means we need an aluminum magnet. I can't believe I didn't think of that before."

"Ok!" The chirpiness was back in Callie's voice from her excitement of finding a solution to their problem. "Uh, how do we get one of those?"

"Simple." Simon replied. He pointed his four right thumbs behind him. "The supply area should have a couple. If not, go ask the folks running inventory to run the ID number for you. It's 0528."

That was Callie's birthday, but she didn't pick up on the hint. The supply area Simon was referring to was also on the other side of the compound. Marie thought about saving her cousin from Simon's prank, but she was feeling mischievous and remembered Callie woke her up from a particularly pleasant dream earlier that morning. So she stayed quiet as Callie bounded off in her search for aluminum magnets.

"You evil soul." Marie's conscience might have allowed the prank, but it didn't allow Simon to get away without a reprimand.

"You didn't stop me." Simon gave a chuckle at Marie. "She won't take long. Someone somewhere will correct her. Besides, I'm not going to let that girl near a sparking trolley. Now help me get this crate off." Simon had a point. Marie wasn't sure Callie could safely fix anything, really. Marie settled back into her work, confident Callie would be back in ten minutes or so once her brain kicked in.

Callie didn't return for almost an hour and a half. Marie and Simon had moved the crate, put in the work order for the trolley, and had started work in a different sector when the usually feisty Inkling appeared from behind one of the crates, her face turned into a scowl and dragging her feet behind her.

"Cal!" Marie chuckled as her deflated cousin sat down. "We thought you'd be back sooner! What happened?"

"I didn't find the aluminum magnets." Callie pouted. "I went to the supply area, and the guys there laughed and told me to go find the inventory people. Then it took forever to find them and when I did they said the number wasn't in their system and told me to go find the techies. Then I saw a birdie so I had to go say hi, but then the birdie flew away, and—hey, why are you laughing?"

"Sorry." Marie tried her best to stifle her chuckles. The mention of birds was just too perfect. "You know you were pranked…right?"

Callie innocently stared back at her cousin.

"Callie." Marie gave a sigh, then looked at her cousin when she didn't respond. Callie's gaze was unfocused and off into the distance, shoulders swaying side to side.

"Cal." Marie tried again.

"Hm?" Callie snapped out of her daydream, halting her shoulders and turning her attention back to Marie.

"Why are magnets attracted to each other?" Marie crossed her arms.

"Because they have iron in them?" Callie's legs started swinging.

"And what's aluminum?" Marie pressed. "It's not…" Callie stared off into the distance, lost in thought.

"Ohh!" Callie's brain turned back on. She let out a sigh, disappointed in her wasted time. "Well gee, I thought I was helping." Inkopolis' bell tower interrupted their conversation, signaling the end of their shift. Marie looked back at her cousin, who still looked a little down. Marie felt a little guilty for her role in the prank, but knew just the thing to fix it.

"Sundaes?" Marie offered. Callie's eyes lit up at the suggestion of food.

"SUNDAES!" Callie threw her fist into the air. Marie's cousin was simple like that. Food fixed everything.

* * *

A wail sounded from the tent, halting Marie's peaceful silence. The Squid Sister let out a groan as she ducked inside, only to re-emerge cradling the upset Zapfish. The one Delta rescued from the Octoling kettle was less than two years old, hardly older than a newborn by Zapfish standards. Marie lifted it against her chest, rocking side to side in an attempt to lull the infant back to sleep. The Zapfish bawled against her shoulder as tears soaked Marie's black kimono. Marie gently patted its back, trying to get its chest moving. The Zapfish's cries paused, making way for a burp.

"That's what happens when you swallow too much air, little one." Marie let a small smile slip as the newborn nuzzled against her shoulder, falling back asleep. The poor little thing was too young to burp on its own, and yet Delta found it generating power for the Octoling regiment. The newborn's output should have only been one eighth of the others, and yet Octavio still wanted to use it.

Marie's smile faded as her shoulders began to sink. She didn't want to show it to Delta and Sheldon, but the Squid Sister was deeply disturbed by Agent 4's discovery. Gramp's book stressed that Marie's top duty was learning everything about the enemy, and this development told her a lot about Octavio. More specifically, how far he was willing to go this time around. He seemed to have no limits in this new campaign of his. And if Octavio was willing to do that to a newborn Zapfish, then...what on earth had he done to Callie? Her cousin's well being had to be much lower on the priority list to begin with, and after learning this new information...

Marie closed her eyes. Callie was in far greater danger than she originally thought. Marie's mind raced with possible scenarios that her cousin might be undergoing. She could be held in a cell, starved and freezing to death. She could be tortured for information on the NSS. Marie knew Callie would hold her tongue—she was a solid agent, but that trait would only bring her more harm in an Octarian interrogation. Heck, she could even be dead already, perished from a gruesome fate—at this point Marie wouldn't put it past Octavio. Marie took a deep breath as anger began to boil inside of her. Callie didn't deserve this. She was a young singer with a big heart who just wanted to cheer cephalopods up. She would sooner chase a butterfly than do her homework when she was in school. Her clumsiness was good-natured, her smile brighter than the sun. That was the kind of Inkling Octavio dared squidnap. No one tried to hurt Marie's cousin—not if she had anything to say about it.

The infantile Zapfish fussed in Marie's arms, and the Squid Sister eased her grip on the baby. Marie slipped back inside the tent, placing the Zapfish into its makeshift nest before settling down in front of her laptop, forcing herself back to work. She had a cousin to save, and fast.

* * *

Delta felt iron pass through her as she slipped out of the kettle, shifting into kid form to feel her boots sink into dirt. She looked down at her newly morphed body to ensure the newest addition to the Zapfish collection was still in her arms. Marie and Sheldon had taken the liberty of pitching a tent when Delta was working through the Octoling kettle, which had since become their makeshift base of operations. The Splatoon had since filled it with the liberated Zapfish from Suction Cup Lookout. Delta could hardly imagine how Marie managed to get any work done in there.

If Delta was counting right, this Zapfish should be the last one before the large kettle in the center of the lookout—which Marie surmised was the location of the Octoweapon. They were almost done.

A rustle of crates drew Delta's attention to her left. She looked down from her perch on the edge of the building to find shards of boxes flying out of a storage garage. Delta's eyes narrowed at the sight, she thought she took out all the Octolings in the area. And this one wasn't being very stealthy.

Delta hopped over the railing and crouched onto the garage's roof. She leapt off, rappelling off the top lip and landing to face the entrance.

"Hands up!" Delta raised her Hero Shot.

"Aack!" Tiny, stubby hands peeked out over the wooden crates. Definitely not an Octoling.

"…Sheldon?" Delta called out, lowering her weapon. "Is that you?"

"Agent 4?" The hands grabbed the edge of the crate as goggles emerged from the top. "Oh cod, you scared the carp out of me!"

"What are you doing here?" Delta gave a huff as the newly liberated Zapfish floated down to its rescuer.

"Marie told me to look for Octoflowers!" Sheldon excitedly came around the crate. "Though I searched all over the Lookout and I couldn't find any. I thought maybe the Octarians already picked them and stored them in here, but…" Sheldon shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh." Delta pressed a hand to her forehead, now understanding the situation. "Sheldon, do Inklings have a Squidflower?" Sheldon thought for a bit, then shook his head.

"So why would Octolings have Octoflowers?" Delta followed up, holstering her Hero Shot and grabbing onto the Zapfish.

"But I…" Sheldon stammered as he processed Delta's logic. "I…Marie told me to get it!"

"Marie wanted some quiet." Delta put a hand on Sheldon's shoulder. "Now come on, let's get back. We've still got more stuff to do."

* * *

"You're back." Marie hung up her phone call as Delta and Sheldon neared the makeshift camp.

"Parents again?" Delta nodded at Marie's shellphone.

"Yeah." Marie gave a sigh. "My pa this time. The whole family is scared squitless."

Delta said nothing.

"You, uh…" Marie pocketed her phone. "You never said anything about your parents."

"They're divorced."

"O-oh!" Marie's eyes widened at her mistake. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"It's fine." Delta shrugged it off. "Happened years ago." Their conversation was interrupted by a wail coming from the tent.

"Can one of you take that?" Marie gave a sigh. "I need a break from the little one."

"I got it." Delta dipped into the tent to attend to the infant Zapfish.

"Good idea!" Sheldon scurried his way over to his corner of parts and tools. "That'll give me a chance to work on her Hero Shot."

"Wait, what?" Delta was out of the tent in an instant, crying Zapfish in her arms. "Who said you could touch my weapon?" She shot a glare at Sheldon as she fumbled with the baby bottle.

"I'll take good care of it!" Sheldon assured her. "I promise. Besides, it needs a makeover anyway."

"A makeover?!" Delta nearly squeaked as the hungry Zapfish clamped its mouth around the bottle. "What are you gonna do?"

"It'll be better than ever, trust me." Sheldon whipped out a screwdriver from his toolbox. "Its fire rate and ink capacity are trash and we both know it. A few tweaks to the bore, enlarge the magazine, coupled with all around better automation and the thing will be mowing down Octarians like never before. Maybe even better than your Splattershot."

"There's no way you can finish all that in time for the Octoweapon fight." Delta protested.

"Don't worry, I created an entire new set of Hero series weapons—just for this mission." Sheldon jerked his shell toward the duffel bag filled with yellow and black themed weapons. "The roller should be ready to use."

"Sheldon has a point." Marie added, leaning against the brick wall next to the crab. "Think about it. If you walked into every single kettle using a Hero Shot, they're gonna start anticipating it after a while. What do you think they're gonna do about it?"

"Counter it." Delta guessed, looking down to make sure the Zapfish was still feeding. Adapting to the opposing strategy was what any Turf player would do.

"Exactly." Marie replied. "They're gonna start remodeling the kettles so that it's physically impassable with a Hero Shot. Using multiple weapons helps fix that problem."

"Rollers are heavy..." Delta grumbled as she pulled the empty bottle away from the infant Zapfish. She wasn't nearly as good with a roller as she was with a shooter. The Zapfish gave a happy gurgle squirming in Delta's arms. She smiled at the baby—its huge eyes were adorable.

Well, they _were_ adorable—until the Zapfish opened its mouth and promptly ejected its dinner onto Delta's yellow jacket. Marie burst into laughter as Delta took a calming breath, slowly walking to the tent to put the Zapfish back. She wiped the spit-up off her face, looking at the white goop in her hand. Delta snuck a sly look at Marie, who was still doubled over laughing at Delta's misfortune.

"Hey Marie." Delta held onto the spit up in her hand. "Stay right there for me."

"Huh?" Marie paused her laughing fit to see Delta advance toward her, spit-up in hand. "Oh no you don't!" Marie took off toward the center kettle, Delta hot on her heels.

"This is for letting Sheldon take my gun!" Delta nearly caught the pop star before Marie ducked behind one of the four pillars surrounding the Octoweapon kettle.

"It's for your own good!" Marie protested, poking her head out of cover to get eyes on the offending goop. Delta lunged at the opening and Marie ran off towards the Octoling kettle—well, as fast as she _could_ run in a kimono.

"You're gonna love it!" Sheldon shouted from his station near the tent.

"Shut it, Sheldon!" Delta paused her chase to turn back toward the crab. "Or you're gonna be the spit-up victim next." Delta's hand came up to her face, and she felt something drip again. She looked down to find that Marie had taken advantage of Agent 4's distraction, and pushed Delta's baby vomit weapon back up to her face.

"Clean yourself up." Marie chuckled, handing the defeated Inkling a handkerchief. "We still have an Octoweapon to defeat, and sadly baby vomit won't do the job."

* * *

Delta rose out of the light green ink, lugging the Hero Roller behind her. She stood over the arena, taking in the sight. Unlike the Octo Oven, this kettle was a massive dojo, with traditional scaffolding above an expansive sumo ring. And just as Delta expected, a giant puddle of purple ink lurked underneath a Zapfish cage. Agent 4 Super Jumped to the edge of the ring before pausing to stare at the Zapfish cage. She knew what was going to happen.

"Wait." Realization struck Delta like a splat from an ocean wave. "Why don't I just..." She leapt forward, drawing the roller back behind her before heaving it forwards, sending a line of teal ink straight at the Zapfish's cage. Delta dove into the ink, speeding toward the cage before jumping back out to extend the shortcut. Delta was a yard away when the tentacle lashed out of the purple, smashing through the barrier and yanking the Zapfish down into the purple's depths.

"Dang it..." Delta began to back up to give the Octoweapon space.

"It was a good attempt, though." Marie's voice came through the radio. "Smart."

"Uh, guys?" Sheldon piped up. "What...is that?"

"That..." Marie replied as Delta stared at the rising figure emerging from the purple ink. "...is what I brought you here to help us with."

The Octoweapon that rose this time was no oven. Delta saw the outline of what was the largest Octarian she had ever seen. Its rotund form held a massive roller over its head, ready to cleave through any Inkling daring to oppose it. The Octoweapon slammed its roller onto the ground with a massive battle cry—a clear challenge to Delta.

"That's an Octoweapon?" Sheldon sounded surprised as Delta gulped, glancing at her much, much smaller roller. "I thought they were mechanical!"

"It's a bioweapon." Marie replied. "Agent 4, you gotta find the tentacle."

"How?" Delta stepped up to the sumo ring's white line, slamming her roller in front of her. "In case you haven't noticed, he's got a size advantage." Delta squinted at the Octarian's frame. She came up to its thigh, at best.

"That's the Octocycle!" Sheldon suddenly piped up as the Octoweapon began creeping towards Delta, roller raised high. "It's one of the latest developments in Octarian technology! It can connect to a uni—"

"Well if you know so much about it," Delta heaved her roller back to fling an escape route in front of her. "Then why didn't you get me one?"

"Because you were complaining about _your_ roller's weight just twenty minutes ago!" Sheldon piped back. "The Octocycle must be at least ten times heavier, and it's not like it even uses all that mass well—"

 _That was it,_ Delta thought to herself. For once, Sheldon's rant actually provided useful information. Delta gripped her roller harder, remembering her coach's advice:

" _When it comes to survival, it's not about strength or size. It's about who can exploit weaknesses first."_

This battle was less of a turf war and more of a duel in close quarters combat. She shouldn't be thinking of her roller as a firearm at all—instead it should be a claymore. Delta raised her roller and flicked in front of her, sending a spattering of teal ahead. The Octo Samurai had size on her, so she had to have speed. More ink meant more agility, so Delta made sure there was green at all angles.

The Octo Samurai lifted its roller high, its horizontal orientation telegraphing its next attack. Delta leapt backwards and to the left, swimming away from the Octoweapon's line of attack. The Octocyle came crashing down on her original position, missing her entirely. Staying at a forty-five degree angle from the enemy limited options of follow-ups and expanded counters, which was advice Delta was determined to follow up on. Agent 4 sprang out of her ink, flinging a straight line at the side of the Octo Samurai's profile. The Octoweapon hissed as golden green eyes glared at her, a stripe of green dripping down its shoulder. It turned, raising its Octocyle for another attack—but Delta was long gone. She had pushed forward, avoiding the impending attack by getting too close to her opponent. Agent 4 heaved her roller forwards, flinging a horizontal flick at the samurai's waist. She had time to throw in two more hits before the Octoweapon could heave its Octocycle off the ground.

Delta winced as she heard a pop, grimacing as the Octoweapon's flesh erupted. She looked up as something splashed into the pool of green ink the explosion created. A tentacle wiggled in front of her, its bottom half encased in mechanical machinery.

"That's the real Octoweapon." Marie called through the radio. "Hit it, Four!"

Delta didn't need to be told twice. She raised her roller, slamming down on the green scar. Agent 4 had enough time to squeeze in another hit before the tentacle retracted back into the metal cup and the Octo Samurai slid its skin back over the weak point.

"Ugch." Sheldon groaned over Marie's radio as the Octoweapon leapt to the other side of the ring with a single push of its arms. "I don't think I'm gonna unsee that."

"I'm never gonna unsee a giant, motorcycle-wielding samurai on a tiny unicycle." Marie muttered back. "And I thought the oven was bad."

"Huh." Delta looked between the Octoweapon's feet for the first time. Sure enough, a four hundred pound Octarian was balancing on a single, minuscule wheel. "…Why?"

"Ooh! I know this!" Sheldon piped up. "It's uh, it's a sign of skill Octarians used to use back in the Great Turf War. Like a taunt!"

"So he's showing off." Delta muttered to herself. She watched the Octoweapon shout another battle cry, hoisting its weapon back. The Octocycle vented steam, shifting the roller into its vertical orientation. The Octo Samurai slammed it down, sending a stream of ink toward Delta.

But Agent 4 had already moved backwards, taking care to stay out of the samurai's range. She knew she couldn't stay distant for long—it would just keep flinging until something eventually hit her—but now that the Octoweapon had range she needed to move more carefully. Delta tapped the red button on her tank, tossing a splat bomb to her right. She slammed the Hero Roller to her right to add to the feint, watching from her periphery as the Octo Samurai took the bait. It raised its weapon, aiming to her right in the hopes of catching her mid-swim. Delta pivoted instantly, pushing a new line of green onto the packed dirt to her left. Angry eyes bored into Delta's new position, but the Octoweapon was hardly in a position to do anything about it.

The Octo Samurai heaved its cycle back, but Delta had already closed in by the time the weapon was even halfway over its head. She jumped out of her green, plunging her roller into the Octoweapon's side. Its skin burst once again, opening the tentacle to another attack. Two more hits and the appendage shot back into the metal.

"That's twice now." Marie called over the radio as the Octoweapon rolled back over. "One more should do it."

"Look out!" Sheldon blurted as a stream of ink rushed past Delta's face, traveling far farther and faster than last time. "The spinning roller's acceleration is gonna—"

Delta saw it too late. She hastily brought her roller in front of her, narrowly blocking the second jet that would have been a direct hit. The force of the blast sent the agent careening toward the back of the ring, skidding to a stop just before the edge. She stumbled back to her feet, trying to locate where her roller went.

Delta didn't see the third one at all. Before she knew it, Agent 4 heard a snap as her back slammed against the chainmail fence behind her, her body ricocheting onto her hands and knees.

"Four!" Delta registered Marie's rushed voice over the radio. "Your suit's shield is gone. One more hit and you're done!" Well, that would explain the sting in her hands.

Delta pulled her hands out of the purple and dove for her roller. She hastily flicked a green zone and hid in its ink, watching as the Octoweapon planted its roller down. Delta heard a motor hum as the Octocycle connected with the unicycle, and the Octo Samurai revved its moped. It charged at Delta's hiding place, and Agent 4 jumped out of the way. The Octoweapon shot past as Delta flung a vertical flick ahead of her, inking another escape path. It turned around and drove towards Delta once more, but this time the NSS agent was prepared. She swam away, pausing to hide where the moped came to a halt. The Octoweapon disconnected his weapon, swinging its Octocycle around to look for the tiny Inkling.

Delta leapt out of her hiding spot, legs coiled in a drop kick. Her feet connected with the Octoweapon's ankle, knocking the unicycle to the side. She rolled out of the way as the giant samurai came crashing to the ground. Delta stood and slammed her roller into the Octoweapon's belly. The tentacle was vulnerable in seconds, and Agent 4 delivered two more swift hits.

The tentacle exploded this time, sending bits of guts and green ink all over the ring. Delta let out a sigh of relief as she heard a click, indicating that her Hero Suit was back online.

"Holy carp…" Marie breathed.

"That was way too close." Sheldon finished for her as Delta flexed her fingers, wondering why her hands still stung. She looked down to find red etchings emblazoned on her skin.

"BUT THAT WAS AWESOME!" Sheldon nearly shouted, and Delta vaguely heard Marie's yelp in the background. "That thing was huge, but a _drop kick_ did it in?! With MY roller?! Oh my cod this is better than Squidmas—"

"SHELDON!" Marie snapped, agitated. "There's a thing called ears, and I'd like to keep mine. Good work, Agent 4. Bring that Zapfish back here so we can wrap things up before Cephalon HQ gets suspicious."

* * *

Delta pulled herself out of the massive kettle, Zapfish tucked under her arm. She heaved herself onto its edge, pausing to take a rest. All the roller players Delta met in turf made it look so easy, but she found that heaving Sheldon's roller around was beyond exhausting. Delta pulled her arm across her chest in a stretch, trying to coax the burn out of her limbs. The Zapfish tugged itself out of Delta's grasp and hovered in front of her face, head cocked in a curious query at what its rescuer was doing.

"You're back!" Delta watched the Zapfish's eyes widen in surprise as Sheldon hugged the electric fish from behind.

"Congrats." Marie leaned against the overhang's pillar, her beak starting to break into a mischievous smirk. "You've managed to survive two Octoweapons and two squads of Octarians without a limb of yours exploding at some point. How you feelin'?"

"Ok enough." Delta nodded, smirking at Marie's earlier comment. "But I think there was something up with that ink." She lifted her hands to show the angry red welts still clinging to her skin. "This should have cleared up by now."

"Hm." Marie peered closer. "I think you're right. I wouldn't be surprised if the Octarians laced Octoweapon ink with something. Don't worry though—just throw some aloe on it and the redness should clear up in a day or two."

"Wow, Marie." Sheldon's goggles bulged at the pop star. "How do you know medical stuff?"

"Did you think Gr-I mean, Cap'n Cuttlefish would send two agents out into the field without some sort of first-aid knowledge?" Marie replied, brushing dust off the bottom of her kimono. "One of us had to have field medic training. And it wasn't like Callie was gonna sit still long enough to learn."

"Heh." Sheldon let out a chuckle. "I guess that's—"

"Shh." Delta cut the crab off, readjusting a headphone. "Quiet." She froze, listening intently.

"What is it?" Marie asked, her voice low.

"I hear something." Delta looked back at her mentor. "Coming over our radio."

"Did the Zapfish get into the mic again?" Marie's brow furrowed as she speed walked to the tent.

"I don't think so." Delta followed close behind. "I don't hear any on my end." Marie yanked open the tent flap and slipped inside. Delta followed to find Marie at her walkie-talkie, the same noise emitting from its speakers.

"It sounds like…white static." Marie surmised as Delta gently redirected a Zapfish floating into Agent 4's face.

"Maybe it's the batteries?" Delta guessed.

"I don't think so." Marie turned the walkie-talkie upside down and pulled the battery chamber open. "I swear I just changed them."

"OH!" Sheldon's head sprouted from the tent flap, still holding the Zapfish. "It's probably interference from the Canyon's kitchen appliances! All sorts of stuff uses radio waves, in fact my microwave—"

Marie and Delta glanced at each other.

"Why is that, anyway?" Delta asked, ignoring Sheldon's now useless ramble about the specifics of radio wave usage in microwaves.

"Why what?" Delta heard the static halt as Marie pulled the batteries out.

"Why is there so much kitchen stuff down here in Octo Canyon?" Delta folded her arms. It had been a question she'd been meaning to ask for a while.

"Oh!" Marie put the radio down. "It's just because the Octarians have a weird fascination with it. That's all. They must think it's fashionable or something. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if we found Callie and the Great Zapfish imprisoned in a giant cheese grater."

"…and leaves look green because their chloroplasts reject wavelengths in the 495-570 nanometer range." Sheldon continued in the background. "So those waves bounce back to our rods and cones—"

"So what do we do now?" Delta continued her conversation with Marie.

"And there are all sorts of different uses for photoexcitation, like solar power—" Delta wasn't even sure what Sheldon was talking about anymore.

"Well…" Marie looked away, quickly lost in thought. "It'd be great if we can redirect the army's attention again so we can move back to Tentakeel Outpost. Especially if we can draw them here. So…" Marie's beak turned into a sly half-smile. "…Remember that communications relay you found earlier?"

Two hours later, the NSS had packed and Super Jumped back to Tentakeel Outpost, leaving a plume of smoke seeping out of the Octoling kettle.

* * *

 **A/N: For those who might have forgotten, I mentioned that the communications relay introduced last chapter would alert Cephalon HQ if destroyed. That ended up being convenient!**

 **So that's Chapter 6. I managed to upload without causing a giant coughing fit this time, so I'd say I'm doing better. Thanks once again to everyone who has read, followed, reviewed, and favorited!**

 **I can't really tell when the next one's going to come out. I'm traveling this weekend so I'm losing a lot of time, but Chapter 7 has some really interesting scenes that I'd like to see on the page-and that should increase productivity. I'd say...maybe two weeks?**

 **At any rate, enjoy!**

 **~RisingPhoenix56**


	8. Chapter 7

"That was such an awesome night!" Sheldon nearly clung to Delta's hoodie as they returned to Inkopolis Square. "I hacked an Octarian lookout! AND WE BEAT UP AN OCTOWEAPON! WITH ONE OF MY WEAPONS!"

"All right, all right, cool it." Delta held her hands up in mock surrender. "Remember what Marie said about staying quiet? If you keep going on about it someone's gonna notice."

"Ahem." Sheldon cleared his throat as he calmed down, turning his key in his shop's door. "But I know what I'm doing today! I can make some changes now that I have data on the roller—thanks to you."

"Yeah, well this squid is hitting the sack the moment we get these guys back where they belong." Delta pointed to herself as they walked into Ammo Knights. Sheldon picked up a second set of keys off the counter as he led her to the back door behind the cash register. Sheldon yanked the door open to the weapon practice yard.

"All right, you grab that one—" Sheldon pointed to one of the three Zapfish moseying around the yard. "And I'll carry back the other two." Delta did as she was told and lifted the baby Zapfish into her arms.

But something was wrong.

Delta looked out across the gang. All the Zapfish were behaving…normally. They sat patiently without a single one making a beeline to the nearest wall. And there were only…three of them. Not four.

"Wait." Delta called out to Sheldon. "Where's Larry?"

Sheldon turned back to look at her, then scanned the rest of the room. Delta's eyes landed on a window on the opposite side of the room, its bottom screen lifted up top.

"Has that window been open this entire time?" Delta raised a hand to point at the open aperture. Sheldon turned toward the window and gulped.

"Take the others back to the Cabin." Delta handed Sheldon the Zapfish she was holding. "I gotta go find him." Delta rushed out the front door, eyes scanning the crowded Square. She glanced through all the shop's windows, thinking Larry would have been attracted to the glass. She sped walked down the Galleria, squeezing past Inklings and hoping for the signature sound of a head bumping against glass. Nothing at Cooler Heads. Nothing at Shrimp Kicks. There was no sign of the loopy Zapfish anywhere, not even Grizzco's or the Deca Tower. Sheldon was gone the entire night—Larry could have been anywhere and there was no way to narrow the search down.

"Ya'll know what time it is!" Delta heard a familiar jingle as she looked up to find Inkopolis News begin its broadcast on the big screen on Deca Tower.

"We're Off the Hook, coming at you LIVE from—"

Bonk.

Delta had never been more relieved to hear that sound in her life. Off the Hook's camera panned to reveal a particular Zapfish glued to the glass behind Pearl's shoulder, his unfocused eyes on the rapper. All of Inkopolis watched as Larry's smushed face pulled back from the glass, only to bump back into the window. Delta dashed toward the wayward Zapfish, only to halt halfway across the Square. Larry was on live television, broadcast to all of Inkopolis and beyond. If Delta ran up to him-she'd be on live television for everyone to see.

And Delta was camera shy.

Delta froze, not really knowing what to do. No matter how hard she tried to force her legs to move, they wouldn't budge an inch toward the Zapfish. Delta looked around for something to throw at Larry to get him to move, but found nothing that wouldn't hurt the little guy.

"Yo, is that a Zapfish?" Pearl turned to look at Larry. Carp, Larry was already gathering even more attention than slamming his face into a live broadcast.

"Is the little guy lost?" Marina slipped out the studio's side door to retrieve the Zapfish, one of the show's cameras not far behind. Larry pulled back from the glass as his checked-out eyes shifted to the oncoming DJ, hovering hesitantly. Marina took another step towards him when Larry's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull, dashing past her. He didn't get very far before planting his face into the glass outside Spyke's café. Marina halted her pursuit to retreat back into the studio, staring at the ground. Larry quickly excavated himself from the wall, zooming down the alley.

Once the camera followed Marina back inside, Delta dashed down the alley after Larry. She halted her steps at the broken down subway entrance in front of her, wondering if the Zapfish had floated downwards. A moving blob of yellow beyond the entrance's supports told her otherwise, and she slipped past the structure in pursuit of Larry.

Delta finally had eyes on Larry and was closing in when a hand appeared from the corridor, catching the Zapfish by the nape of the neck. Delta's run slowed to a stop in front of the last Inkling she wanted to see.

"Heh." Alyssa adjusted her sunglasses as she brought Larry closer for a better look. "Now why would an Entrenched member be chasing a poor little Zapfish?"

"You heard Marina." Delta lied, keeping her eyes on Larry. "He's lost and I'm trying to bring him back to where he _belongs_." She raised an eyebrow at the renegade Zapfish at the last word.

"That's interesting." Alyssa's deceptively cordial tone cut through the air. "I would think maintenance or the authorities would be a better choice for that." Delta stayed quiet, taking the time to instead observe Larry. He seemed to have calmed down from his earlier spazz, and was back to slowly moving his mouth while staring into space.

"You don't have anything to say to that?" Alyssa goaded, bringing Delta out of her concentration.

"Do you see them anywhere?" Delta replied, gesturing to the empty alley. "It's not like they can keep track of him better than us right now."

"I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that your lights were on last night." Alyssa's gaze turned back to Larry as Delta's eyes widened. Carp. In her rush to answer Marie's emergency call, Delta must have forgotten to switch the lights off. That meant they had been on the entire night, working as a giant beacon to the entire Square that Delta wasn't where she should have been last night.

"I was at a friend's." Delta replied, curt.

"Friend's." Alyssa let out a small chuckle. "Right. I wonder if this friend has anything to do with…" Alyssa pulled Larry away from her to get a closer look at his vacant behavior. "What is wrong with this thing, anyway?"

Larry puckered his mouth into an O at the sniper in response, his dull eyes following her long tentacle bang.

"Is this freak some sort of moronic runt of the litter?" The disdain was palpable in Alyssa's tone.

"Hey!" Delta snapped back as she felt the familiar well of indignation rise inside her. "Watch it. Larry does his best." Delta rolled her shoulders. If Alyssa didn't back off, she was going to be in for a world of hurt.

"He has a name—" Alyssa couldn't finish her sentence because Larry decided her long yellow tentacle was food. He clamped his mouth down with no intention of letting go.

"EEEEEK!" Alyssa shrieked, trying to push him off. When Larry clearly wasn't letting go, the sniper resorted to running in undignified circles. "GET HIM OFF! GET HIM _OFF_!" Alyssa kept shrieking as Larry trailed behind her, still glued onto Alyssa's tentacle. Delta took a couple steps forward, timing Larry's positioning. She stuck her hand out, catching Larry on the forehead. The motion of Alyssa running past pulled him off and into Delta's hands, his vacant eyes staring blankly up at her.

"Don't do that again." Delta muttered, taking off through unpopulated back routes. She suck back around using the alley behind the Galleria, slipping down the manhole when no one was looking. Larry was safely stashed with the rest of the Zapfish, and both Delta and Sheldon swore up and down to never utter a word of the incident to Marie.

* * *

Marie calmly pecked at her rice, despite how starving she was. Her regular schedule of performances was crazy enough—but now that she was leading an entire rescue mission on top of everything else, Marie was having a hard time fitting in three meals a day.

Her right thumb ran over the pink yet traditional swirls painted on the rice bowl as her left guided the chopsticks to the next rice clump. Callie used to poke fun at Marie's laterality when they were very young, but she didn't know any better—cross dominance was rare in Inklings. Callie's mother was on it instantly, chastising her daughter's behavior while explaining what cross dominance was. It was funny in retrospect, since Callie had a hard time learning right from left at that age.

"Mr. Bluve will be in s-soon!" Callie's secretary—a sweet little girl named Sapyre—poked her head into the waiting room. Marie gave a reassuring nod before Sapyre sped back to the front desk. _Poor thing_ , Marie thought as she returned to her rice—or rather, Callie's rice that Marie had found in the cooker. After hearing that Callie hadn't contacted her family in the weeks before she went missing, Marie decided to pay Callie's office a visit in an attempt to learn what the pink squid had been up to. She had walked in to a stressed out secretary and an absent manager who had taken the day off. Sapyre was clearly new, and uncomfortable with making someone of Marie's fame—and her boss's beloved cousin—wait in the waiting room.

But Marie was fine with it. The peace was welcome in the Squid Sister's hectic life, finally giving her time to eat and take a quick breather. More importantly, it gave Marie the time to finally take in Callie's new office. Marie had visited the older one her cousin had when their solo careers had begun to take off, but Callie had moved her workplace almost a year ago. Marie promised that yes, she would visit—but between concerts, interviews, radio shows, and her budding career in theatre, Marie kept putting the visit off. Days had quickly turned into months, and suddenly a year had gone by. Now she found herself guiltily sitting in its waiting room, wishing she had come sooner.

Marie's eyes scanned the room, hoping that the attention now would make up for her mistake. The walls were painted a light pink—no surprise there—complemented with dark oak cabinets and drawers. A corner of the room was dedicated to a kitchen of sorts, a subtextual offering to waiting guests. It was where Marie found the rice cooker and traditionally decorated bowls, mildly surprised at Callie's reference to the old culture of Calamari County. Marie had taken a seat on the modern couch against the wall separating the waiting room from the entrance, and she reached out a hand to pull the shades down over the glass wall to her left. She didn't want all of Inkopolis to watch her pull the purple-sleeved book from her kimono's pocket.

Marie's latest skim through Gramps' book had discovered something she found worrisome. It was a brief passage in one of its chapters, but so far every word of its text had rung true. Marie thanked her lucky stars for what felt like the umpteenth time for keeping it safe from the fire. The book told her how to predict the movement of Octarian troops, what kind of individuals to recruit, how to distract and disorient her enemy, how to keep the Splatoon hidden from Octarian eyes, which ground to rush to, which ground to avoid, to be wary of the snake formation, and how to chop it down into manageable parts. Marie knew she wouldn't have lasted past the first night of this ordeal without its advice, and thanks to its ancient words the NSS had a fighting chance at rescuing Callie and the Great Zapfish. But now it was saying something Marie found concerning.

She peeled its pages open with her free hand and thumbed her way to the chapter on tactics. Her eyes jumped down the page until she found it:

" _To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself. Hence the saying: One may_ know _how to conquer without being able to_ do _it."_

In other words, only Octavio could provide the weakness that would be his downfall. And that could be a problem. Marie still had yet to figure out Octavio's own competency in strategy—what if he was too smart to ever offer an opportunity for defeat? The two forces would be stuck at an impasse for an eternity at best, or Marie could jump the gun and lead the remaining NSS members to destruction at worst. She loathed the idea of having to wait for Octavio to make a mistake, because that opened up the possibility that this could drag on for far longer than what Callie could survive for. It could be months before an opportunity opened up, and Marie would have no control over it.

A knock on the wall jolted Marie from her thoughts, and she hastily stowed the book back into her kimono before looking at the blue-tentacled Inkling in the hallway. She got up to give him a friendly, one-armed hug—she had known Bluve since her time at Inkopolis News, and wouldn't trust any other manager with her cousin.

"I'm so sorry." Bluve broke the hug to lead the way to his office. "For making you wait, for…everything, really." He couldn't bring himself to say it outright, but Marie knew what he was trying to express. He was apologizing for Callie's disappearance.

"Thanks for letting me meet with you." Marie sat down in the chair opposite Bluve's mahogany desk. "I know you probably can't tell me anything more than what you've told the police, but it would be helpful to get some..." Marie's voice trailed off, thinking of the best way to phrase her request.

"...Closure?" Bluve finished for her.

"Sure." Marie let him pick the word. That was probably a better cover-up than what she could have come up with.

"I understand." Bluve replied, his voice turning gentle. "When I got your call that you wanted to look through Callie's things, my heart went out to you." He let out a sigh. "Again, I'm sorry." Bluve crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back in his executive chair. "I feel like it's my fault. I should have stopped Callie way before things got out of hand."

"What do you mean?" Marie's brow furrowed.

"I don't even know where to start." Bluve let out a sigh. Marie waited as he stared at the metronome on his desk, trying to form thoughts into words. Looked like her suspicions were right—Callie's lack of communication was indicative of something bigger going on.

"Callie started the year off fine." Bluve began, finding his words. "In fact she was asking for more gigs. She wanted to explore film acting more, so I networked with some TV directors and got her a few roles. For a while I thought she was happy."

Marie stayed quiet.

"Then she started acting stressed." Bluve continued. "It was just small stuff at first, a nervous laugh here and there. She started to stay at the office a little later, like a half hour or so. Said she wanted to 'just finish a thing or two.'"

"I asked her if she wanted less work, but Callie waved me off with a laugh and said she was fine. At first I thought it was just the stress of adapting to a new career and that it would fade once she learned the ropes. But it didn't."

"Her directors started trusting her with more involved roles. Callie started to travel farther for film shoots and stayed on set longer. I suggested we ease up on her music production to relax her schedule a little, but Callie wouldn't have it."

"Heh." Marie let out a little chuckle. "Yeah, good luck on getting her to ever stop producing."

"Yeah." Bluve let out a smile as he stared at the edge of his desk. "And you know how she gets. Stressed Callie looks nearly identical to happy Callie—she's so good at hiding emotions. Aside from being withdrawn, I thought things were blowing over—until Callie snapped at Sapyre."

"She…what?" Marie's eyes widened in surprise, stunned by Bluve's comment. "At that shy little girl by the front desk?" Marie had spent almost her entire life around Callie, and could count the times Callie lost her temper on one hand.

"I was as shocked as you are." Bluve gave a nod. "And I was there."

"Just…out of the blue?" Marie asked, still trying to comprehend.

"Basically, yeah." Bluve answered. "It was late at night and Callie was trying to get home to pack. Sapyre was telling her about a few more requests for commercial cameos that had come in while she was working, and Callie just…lost it for a second. She apologized as soon as she saw her mistake and slipped out the door, and…that's the last anyone saw of her."

"That's…a lot to take in." Marie leaned back against her chair. Callie losing her temper was unheard of and incredibly unlike her chipper nature—and to someone like Sapyre. Callie must have felt horrible about it.

"Sapyre has understandably taken it really hard." Bluve let out a sigh. "I'm gonna have to talk to her." He tapped a pen across his desk as he tried to think. "At first I thought she just wanted to get home and relax, until I got that call from you the next morning asking where she was. I was hoping you might have been able to add some pieces to the puzzle, since you live with her and all."

"That's the thing." Marie smiled through the twist in her gut. "The more I think about it, the more I'm sure she stopped coming home at night. I'd see her on her way back when I'm leaving in the morning, and there's no way she'd have left to do errands that early." Bluve sat quiet for a moment, lips pursed in deep thought.

"I knew it." Bluve suddenly stood from his chair and headed towards the door, grabbing a key on the way out. "Come with me for a second." Marie stood and followed him down the hallway, stopping to wait for him to unlock the door to Callie's office. "This just appeared one day." Bluve swung the door wide and pointed to the pink blanket folded across Callie's tan sofa. Marie stepped into the room and picked up the blanket, studying it.

"This isn't some throw blanket you toss on a couch for decoration." Marie fully unfolded the quilt. She recognized its patchwork as one of Callie's favorite covers to take with her on tours. "She's been sleeping here."

"I knew something was up with her staying here longer than I did." Bluve let out a sigh as he walked to Callie's cluttered desk, wiggling the mouse to wake up the monitor.

"Let me guess," Marie moved to glance over Bluve's shoulder with a tiny smile. "You never trusted Callie to remember her own password."

"Bingo." Bluve returned the knowing smirk as he punched in Callie's password. "And I was right to. I think her record was asking me for it six times in the same week."

"Six times?" Marie chuckled into her palm. "How is she that forgetful..." Sometimes Marie wondered how Callie could survive in life.

"Here's her schedule if it helps." Bluve clicked on Callie's calendar, and Marie was instantly greeted with a sea of red, blue and green blocks, indicating Callie's work.

"Is that a call time of 7am?" Marie pointed at a red chunk taking up most of Callie's day. "At RedLoch?"

"That's the film industry for you." Bluve affirmed. "That's an hour's commute from the city." Marie turned back to the computer screen, lost in thought. That meant Callie had to be ready to go by six in the morning at the latest, even earlier if she wanted extra time to be sure.

"She's there for most of the day." Marie nodded at the size of the event on the schedule. It easily sprawled out to 5pm.

"There's free meals and a lot of downtime on set." Bluve straightened his back out. "At least, that's what Callie told me. At any rate-" he pulled up Callie's chair for Marie to sit in. "I don't want to keep bothering you. Stay as long as you like—let me know if you need anything." Bluve offered Marie a small smile before slipping out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Marie let out an overwhelmed sigh as her eyes scanned Callie's hopelessly disorganized office. Callie was never one for neatness to begin with—but this was excessive, even for her. Callie's desk itself was cluttered with piles of copyright claims, licensing agreements, old call sheets, and acting contracts. Marie spun around in Callie's black office chair to find that the cocktail table in front of the sofa was littered with similar documents. Stubby pencils and giant pink erasers were everywhere, in fact most of what should be in Callie's desk drawers were strewn across the office room.

Marie spun around, taking in Callie's room as a whole. Posters of both Squid Sisters albums and promotional art for performances lined the light pink walls. Marie looked down at Callie's desk drawers, noting the bottom one was twice as large as the other two. Marie pulled it open, discovering—she guessed it—a secret stash of candy. She gave a small smile, helping herself to one before tossing the wrapper into Callie's overflowing trash can.

Marie spun back around to the monitor on Callie's desk, staring down her calendar. Her filming at RedLoch ended just before five o'clock, which meant Callie was back at the office by six. There was a little space for dinner, then she had to be at the recording studio by 7. Music recording was a blue event on Callie's calendar, and extended until eleven.

Wait.

Callie should have been free by eleven-thirty at the latest. That was plenty of time to get back to the apartment and sleep. It might not be a full night's rest, but a bed should have been better than a couch. So why did Callie not return to the apartment?

Marie leaned back in the chair, brows furrowed in thought. Did Callie just not want to be at the apartment? …Why? Marie thought Callie was comfortable there. Was Marie wrong? Or…was it Marie that Callie was avoiding? Marie spent another hour combing through Callie's office, trying to find any sort of hint as to why her cousin made such a decision—but found no answer. Without any information, Marie's mind concocted more and more baseless theories. Maybe Callie was upset with Marie for not checking in. Maybe it was because of the final Splatfest. Each idea felt like a knife sinking more and more into Marie's gut.

Marie stood up, vaguely trying to run from her thoughts. She had originally come to Callie's office to try to get some questions answered, but the more she sat here the more questions that came to mind—each one more painful than the last. She gathered her things and left Callie's key with Bluve, making her way towards the front desk. A look at Sapyre scrunched behind her desk reminded Marie of the guilt Sapyre and Bluve felt for something they didn't understand. Marie knew fully well the fault wasn't theirs.

It was hers.

* * *

Delta's hand shot out of the covers, knocking the blaring alarm clock to the ground. It clattered its way under the bed, beeping incessantly. Delta let out a yawn as she sat on the side of the bed, shaking the remaining sleep from her eyes. She figured her two-hour nap was over.

Delta's hands still stung in protest as she lowered herself to the ground, reaching a hand out to pull the noisy clock from under her bed. She switched it off and put it back on the nightstand before pulling her arms across her chest, stretching the soreness out. The burn Delta felt from last night had turned to tight pain in her sleep, and she sent a silent prayer that it would work itself out as the day went on. Delta had a newfound respect for roller mains—especially Callie, who looked like she could swing her roller around all day and still have the boundless energy she was known for.

Delta fished her shellphone from under her pillow and checked the time: 12:40. She had twenty minutes to get dressed and meet the boys for practice. She pulled her drawers open, changing out of yesterday's hoodie and tugging on a white v-neck. Delta looked down at her hands, noting the blotchy red marks still clinging to her skin. Her teammates would definitely notice if she didn't do something to hide them, so she started scouring her apartment for the Squidforce gloves that came with the shirt. She found them in one of the nightstand's drawers and tugged the hounds tooth over the irritated skin. The fingerless gloves covered most of the redness, and the pink palms distracted from the rest. That should do it.

Up next was headgear, and Delta turned to her assortment of face masks. She grabbed the orange Octoking mask and was about to put it on before she stopped, staring into the shadowed design. Octoking… Didn't Marie refer to Octavio as a king of sorts? Wouldn't he be the "Octoking" this mask was referencing? Delta's hesitant gaze turned to a suspicious look. That couldn't be possible, yet there it was. It probably meant nothing, but she still put the mask down in favor of her Forge Camo face shield. Delta stretched the fabric over her head and let it hang around her neck as a scarf. She'd pull it up when it was time for practice.

After one last check over, Delta grabbed her tank and Splattershot and headed out the door. She crossed the hall to the boys' apartment, pounding her fist on their door to get them moving.

"We're coming, we're coming!" Dylan's muffled voice sounded through the door. "Just guess who misplaced their dualies."

"Shut up!" Kai quipped back.

"Coach would have your hide if he knew that, Kai." Delta called back. "You know what he says: take care of your gear and your gear'll take care of you."

"Found them!" Kai called back as Addam opened the door. Delta held the door for him as he lugged his Heavy Splatling through the doorway.

"So what stage are we going to?" Delta asked Kai as Dylan turned around to lock the front door.

"We ain't going to practice just yet." Kai shoved his dualies in his pockets. "Dylan and I were counting the money we got from our past two tournament wins, and looks like we have enough to upgrade our gear." Kai's face curved into a sly smile. "Isn't that what Coach said? 'Take care of your gear and your gear will take care of you?'"

"All right, all right you got me there." Delta shrugged it off. "So where we going? Galleria?"

"Sheldon's, to be exact." Dylan started walking toward the elevator, his brella tucked under his arm. "If we trade in our old weapons, we have enough for a new brella and splatling." Delta had her eyes narrowed at "Sheldon's," remembering how the horseshoe crab stole her Hero Shot for "repairs" the previous night.

"I'm keeping my Splattershot." Delta protectively hugged her weapon to her chest.

"You will." Kai let out a chuckle as they stepped into the elevator, and Delta nearly needed to rebalance herself when the shaft began to descend. "I'm not messing with whatever you do to get in the zone. But Addam could use more firepower and Dylan could use a new—" Kai's words were cut off when the elevator abruptly stopped on the next floor. The door slid open to reveal an Inkling in a gas mask, mere inches away from the elevator's opening.

"GAH!" Kai was clearly not expecting the jumpscare, since he nearly backed into Addam in surprise.

"This is what you see before you die." The black gas mask hardly budged as the Inkling spoke.

"Will you get inside, Feer?" Kylos sprang from behind the Inkling. Feer didn't break his gaze with Kai as he shambled into the shaft, holding his Blobber in front of his dark bomber jacket. Kylos held the door open for Alyssa as she walked in, her E-Liter resting on her shoulder. Kylos leaned outside the elevator's frame to grab a black dynamo roller, lifting it up and carrying it into the elevator. Murk was the last one to enter, leaning against the wall with a black Luna Blaster. The elevator's doors closed as the shaft split into two different sides—Indigone on the right and Entrenched on the left—glaring at each other.

After what seemed like an eternity, Murk elbowed the button for the ground floor. Calming jazz began to play as each side gripped their weapons tighter.

"What's the matter?" Kylos' taunt broke the silence. "Catfish got your tongue?"

"No." Delta crossed her arms. "You just aren't worth the oxygen."

"'Aren't worth the oxygen?'" Kylos put a hand on his chest, feigning offense. "Well—" He leaned an arm on his black dynamo. "—some cephalopods disagree with you."

"Like, say, Toni Kensa." Alyssa fiddled with the sunglasses perched above her forehead as she nodded to Kylo's black roller.

"Is that a new Kensa Dynamo?" Dylan seemed to notice the roller's color for the first time.

"The one and only." Kylos lifted his chin in pride, the shaft's overhead lights glimmering off his sunglasses.

"You guys are sponsored by Toni Kensa?" Kai put two and two together. "Already?"

"You'd better believe it." Murk spoke through his Annaki mask.

"Toni Kensa can clearly see true potential." Kylos added as the elevator came to a stop. "Not two-win beginner streaks from a no name team from nowhere." The elevator's doors opened, and Indigone slipped out and into the lobby.

"Can't wait to splat you over and over with the new Kensa gear!" Murk called behind him, holding his Kensa Luna Blaster in the air.

"Well that..." Kai climbed out of the elevator.

"Sucked." Rare word from Addam.

"How are they already sponsored?" Kai started leading the group toward the building's exit. It was almost customary for clothing and weapon companies to sponsor a team during the National Turf Wars, giving that team free access to branded weapons and gear. It was generally seen as a show of faith or a bet on which team will win the trophy, and was always seen as an honor to be offered a scholarship.

"Well, it makes sense." Dylan said as he continued walking. "Sponsorship offers started yesterday and Indigone was last year's champions, so of course they would be among the first to get an offer."

"Yeah, but Toni Kensa of all companies?" Kai let out a sigh. "They get free access to all the newest weaponry and freshest gear. And that's not gonna be the last time they rub it in our faces."

"Well did you expect Toni Kensa would sponsor us instead?" Dylan's incredulity had a point. Entrenched might have been doing well in the tournament, but they didn't stand out from the rest of the teams still in the winner's bracket—definitely not enough to catch the attention of a big name corporation.

"Look." Dylan kept walking. "Let's just spend what we have on new weapons like we planned, and focus on implementing them for now. We can worry about sponsorships later."

"Right." Kai gave a nod.

"Right." Dylan repeated, letting out a sigh. "Delta, what's up?"

"Huh?" Delta looked up at her childhood friend.

"What's the matter?" Dylan asked again. "You're usually more vocal about stuff like this."

"Oh, sorry." Delta fumbled for an answer. "Lost in thought. Can we just get going?" Dylan held Delta's gaze a bit, then turned around to walk to Ammo Knights.

After a brief visit to Sheldon's, team Entrenched was ready for practice. Kai was first to leave the shop with Dylan in tow, who had a new Sorella Brella in hand. Addam heaved a massive Hydra Splatling third, and Delta managed to stay behind an extra moment without the boys noticing. She gave Sheldon one final glare for Larry's escape earlier that morning before catching back up with the team. The group decided Moray Towers was the best place to test their weaponry, and caught the next bus over to the parking lot.

"Whoah." Kai breathed as he morphed out of spawn. "Hope you guys aren't afraid of heights."

"Is that a helipad over there?" Delta held her hand above her eyes, shielding her vision from the sun. "We're higher than a _helipad_?"

"Wow." Dylan looked towards the platform in between the towers. "This place is even cooler in reality than onscreen."

"Out of all the squids in the world..." Delta paused to pull her camo face shield in front of her mouth. "You would know. It's not like you've watched the Ink Me Up music video the Squid Sisters shot here a million times."

"I-I did not!" Dylan gripped the hilt of his Brella in protest.

"Oh, so it wasn't a million?" Kai cracked a smile. "You mean you watched it a billion times? Wow Dylan, you must _really_ like the Squid Sisters."

"That's not..." Dylan looked away, flustered. "I'm not—"

 _THUNK._

Delta and Dylan whipped around to see Addam leaning on his Hydra Splatling outside of the spawn point.

"Yeesh." Kai pulled his dualies out of his pockets. "That thing is heavy. But anyways, let's get this show on the road!" Kai dashed off toward the center of the stage, Addam heaving his new Splatling in tow.

"By the way." Dylan walked up to Delta, managing to catch a moment away from Kai and Addam. "What's with the gloves? Why are you wearing them?"

"Wha...?" Delta had to take a moment to recover. She hadn't expected Dylan to mention anything about it. "They come with the shirt."

"You hate wearing gloves to practice." Dylan rested his weight against his brella. "Because they 'get in the way of your grip.' Any of this ring a conch?"

"'Course." Delta defended, tapping a finger against her thigh. "But...these aren't so bad. They're fingerless and actually have some pretty good grip." Dylan raised an unconvinced eyebrow.

"You know you can talk to me, right?" He asked, tapping a finger on his brella. "You've been really...out of it these past couple days, and it isn't like you."

"I'm fine." Delta gripped her Splattershot a little harder. "Really. Just tired is all."

"Hey guys, check this ouUUUUUT!" Kai's voice trailed off, followed by a crash. Delta and Dylan rushed to the side of the tower they were on, looking down to find Kai's form nearly flattened against the ground below.

"You good there, dude?" Dylan asked, leaning over the ledge.

"Ugh, yeah." Kai called back as he pulled himself to his feet. "Why isn't there a railing there?!"

"Let me guess." Delta leaned her hands against her knees. "You did a dualie roll in the exact wrong direction, and now you're trying to blame it on the geography."

"I..." Kai opened his mouth to protest. "Shut up!"

 _THUNK._

Delta and Dylan turned around to discover that Addam had moved his Hydra Splatling up to get a closer look at the commotion. Delta groaned under her breath. That Hydra...could get annoying.

"Well, at least Kai pointed out a nice shortcut." Delta fired her Splattershot, sending droplets of ink spilling onto the platform below. She jumped off the ledge without hesitation, morphing into a squid midway and landing into her puddle with a plunk.

"Dang." Dylan commented as Delta hoisted herself back onto the ground. "No fear today, huh?"

"It's not that far." Delta replied with a shrug. What she didn't say was that the Octarian kettles had taken a steep turn, forcing Delta to get very comfortable with heights very quickly. But that was something the boys didn't need to know.

"All right." Dylan and Addam followed suit after Delta's display. "How about we—"

 _THUNK._

"—get this practice session on the road?"

* * *

 **A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you to all who have read, reviewed, followed, and/or favorited thus far.**

 **Remember when I said I might have this out earlier than two weeks? Those fun, innocent times? Heh heh, yeah... If you must know the culprit of the delay, look no further than Callie's office scene. While I was excited for months about exploring that scene, it was an absolute BEAST to write. I had to return to the drawing board twice, stopping writing for an entire week to research what it's actually like to work as a singer/TV actor. Then once I resumed writing, I had to make sure everything worked as it should.**

 **I know the little detail about Marie being cross dominant might seem like a really trivial and almost meaningless detail to include, but it's not. Trust me, that was actually really important...**

 **The quotation from Marie's book is James Clavell's translation of the text, and isn't my own words (hence why it's in quotes, it's not speech). Gotta give credit where credit is due.**

 **Special shoutout to åaB Flame,** **åaB Elven, Loulou, dents and** **åaB Kirstin for helping me out with the Entrenched practice scene. These five awesome people volunteered to dress up as both Entrenched and Indigone and act out the scenes in game to help me visualize how the weapons worked out. They were especially helpful in the final scene, helping me decide on weaponry, what stage, and finalizing what gear each character wears. They were excellent troopers, braving through weapons they weren't confident in (and my inexperienced stage direction) and deserve a virtual round of applause. I'm very grateful to you guys.**

 **~RisingPhoenix56**


	9. Chapter 8

"Nothing?" Marie's fingers rubbed at her eyelids as she found a place to sit on the living room couch. "Nothing at all?"

"This is a highly unusual case." Detective Alex took a seat in the couch chair opposite Marie. "Until now I'd always believed in the notion that Inklings just don't go missing. Everyone leaves a trail; it's just a matter of finding it. But with Ms. Callie's case..." He fiddled with the collar of his shirt. "There's nothing. No credit card footprint, no transportation trail, no string of sightings—nothing about any of this is normal. It's almost as if she turned a corner and just...vanished."

"And you've never seen anything like this before." Marie dropped her hand. She alone knew where Callie was, but it would still be helpful to know where the police stood on their investigation in case she needed to nudge them back into the wrong direction.

"No." The detective shook his head. "We don't even see such lack of evidence in squidnappings. Usually the squidnappers will start using their victim's credit card or they'll send a ransom, but neither of those hints have occurred."

"Right." Marie knew the Octarian military was well financed, and that was why she never received a ransom. The Octarians didn't care about Callie's finances, only that she was Agent 1.

"A crime out of spite might have happened—Ms. Callie's fame makes her a high value target after all." Detective Alex tapped two fingers against his chin as he thought aloud. "But I think we'd have seen someone gloating by now."

"Can you remember anyone who might not have gotten along with Callie?" Elink—Detective Alex's investigation partner—ducked under the caution tape pasted across the doorframe to Callie's bedroom.

"Aside from the list I provided earlier?" Marie replied as the jellyfish wobbled his way into the living room. "No. It's Callie, the list of cephalopods that hate her is gonna be short."

"How about any sort of inclination that she might run away?" Alex followed up, leaning his forearms on his knees.

"No, I…" Marie's response faltered as she remembered yesterday's discovery of the makeshift bed in Callie's office. "I don't think so. It's not like her to run from something." Marie knew her last line was true—Callie prided herself on not giving up.

"Then in that case…" Alex let out a sigh as Elink's arms extended to poke at the toaster on Marie's kitchen countertop. Alex shot a warning glare at his partner before continuing. "I have to be honest—things aren't looking good for Ms. Callie."

Marie looked up from her staring contest at the carpet, but said nothing.

"In most missing squid cases," Alex's voice turned low, gentle. "the missing squid turns up after a day or two. But Ms. Callie's been gone for seven."

"Any trail that we might find would be stone cold by now." Elink blubbered in reply.

"When missing cases drag on for this long…" Alex continued. "They tend to end in one of three outcomes. Either they come back after a few years, are never found, or…"

"Or their body washes up." Elink blurted out. Alex whipped his head around to glare at his partner.

"Cal's not dead." Marie quickly retorted, squeezing her hands together. "She's not dead."

"We understand that this might be a difficult idea to face." Alex turned back to face Marie. "But I think it's something that we need to consider, and prepare for."

Marie's lips pursed into a thin line as her eyes turned back to the carpet.

"I know this isn't the news you wanted to hear from us today." Alex continued. "And I can't imagine what this has been like for you. And I wanted to make sure you knew there is support available." Alex fished a business card out of his pocket and handed it to Marie.

"This is a grief counselor's card." Marie stared at the label on the card.

"The lack of closure or unwelcome ending is more than difficult for family members." Alex tried to explain. "That practice—" he pointed to the card in Marie's hands. "—is very good at comforting in these kinds of situations."

"I don't need this." Marie tried to push the card back at Alex.

"Just…give them a call." Alex held his hand up to stop Marie. "Denial is the first stage of grief. You deserve to take care of yourself, too."

Marie didn't respond, opting to glare at the card instead.

"We'll leave you alone for now." Detective Alex grabbed his hat off the cocktail table as he stood. "We'll keep doing the best we can, but we don't want you to have your hopes up unreasonably high." Alex and Elink departed through Marie's apartment door, leaving her staring at the Guppy award.

She waited until their footsteps had vanished down the stairs before picking the business card back up again. Marie's fingers grasped the corners, tearing the wretched thing in half. She gathered its pieces back up, only to rip them apart once more. And she did it again. And again, and again, until they were nothing more than useless shreds with illegible letters. Marie shoved them off the table and out of her sight, not caring if they scattered across the carpet. She stood from her seat on the couch, choosing to pace around the apartment in an attempt to calm down. The police were wrong, that's all it was. They were wrong because Marie didn't give them all the clues. Marie knew exactly where Callie was, she didn't need to listen to them. She didn't need to give up just yet. She had a plan, things were progressing—slow, but successful. Marie had hardly figured Delta would get this far when she first recruited the Turf competitor. To get so far with so little trouble was more than what Marie could have asked for.

So then why did the detective's cautionary words hurt so much?

Marie stopped her pacing to stand in front of the award case beside the kitchen table. The nomination for the Golden Goby sat framed on the left, received for their work as anchors on Inkopolis News. They hadn't won the Goby itself on the first nomination—it wasn't until the final Splatfest that Callie and Marie got to bring home the actual Golden Goby on the far right of the display case.

But the real pearl of the collection sat in the center of the case. The Guppy gleamed back at Marie, still shimmering as golden as the day they won it for Calamari Inkantation. Callie must have been polishing it over the years, to keep its shine from getting dull. She was so ecstatic to hear their name called onstage, she was squealing and jumping up and down like a fan meeting their favorite celebrity. Callie had in a way—she had always dreamed of winning a Guppy since they were young kids.

Marie let a smile through her tears. She was excited to win the Guppy too, she just didn't show it as much as Callie did. She closed her eyes and bit her lip as the ever familiar knot found its way back into her throat. Marie sorely missed Callie's jubilance, and—quite frankly—it hurt too much to consider that the detective's suspicions might be correct. Marie swallowed the lump in her throat as she pulled her shellphone out of her kimono's pocket and dialed Sheldon's number. She couldn't afford to let this go on for much longer—for Callie's sake.

"Hello?" Marie could hardly hear the horseshoe crab's voice over the massive screeching of metal machines in the background.

"Sheldon how are they coming?" Marie raised her voice so Sheldon could hear over the noise.

"Oh!" Sheldon hurriedly replied. "Oh my cod Marie, you HAVE to see this! They look SO COOL!"

"Do they look convincing?" Marie asked. "Authentic enough?"

"Authentic enough?" Sheldon repeated, incredulous. "Marie, you are talking to one of the best experts on the Great Turf War weaponry. These things are going to have every patch, every insignia, every hatch they had in the Great War. And it is going to be…totally…awesome." Marie let out a small smirk. She figured Gramps was the reigning expert, since he was the Inkling general and all—but she let Sheldon have his moment.

"How many have you finished?" Marie asked.

"Uh," Sheldon's voice sounded more distant as he looked around. "I'd say the guys have finished about…thirty of them? I told them they're for a new stage that's supposed to be a Great Turf War recreation and the guys were none the wiser, ha!"

"Can you do the other half by tomorrow night?" Marie wanted the new distraction set up quickly, as soon as she could pull herself away from her own work without attracting attention.

"Uh, sure I think I can." Sheldon replied. "That's one of the perks of using the mass production factory. But uh, you okay? You don't…sound too good."

"I'm fine. See you tomorrow night." Marie hurriedly hung up.

* * *

Delta's sneakers skidded across the ground, spraying blue ink in her wake. Her waist leaned back as she skidded to a stop, halting just before a sea of orange. Delta didn't trust it. One minute into the match and only two opposing players were accounted for? There had to be someone hiding in that side route.

"I'll go first." Dylan's canopy unfolded in front of her, pausing a moment before retracting to let Dylan fire his brella. "Cover me, will you?"

"Got it." Delta raised her Splattershot, taking position behind Dylan's right flank. She fired Entrenched's blue at the orange, trying to flesh the players out. She'd much rather have them barreling into her face than wondering when they'll sneak up on her.

Dylan turned left, heading up Snapper Canal's right side as Delta pivoted to cover his rear. She paused firing to catch a glimpse of an orange form peek over the ramp from Snapper Canal's side area.

"Contact!" Delta and Dylan called at the same time, and Delta internally groaned. They'd walked right into a flank.

Delta landed two shots on the player she found, causing him to pull out of his hiding spot. She was lining up the third when he flung his roller, sending a line of orange flying at her. Delta sidestepped the attack, but not before grabbing at the back of Dylan's collar behind her. She yanked him aside, pulling him clear of the roller's attack. Delta didn't have time to check on Dylan's reaction before raising her Splattershot to counter the roller's attack. Delta had her finger on the trigger when she froze. She hadn't noticed it before, but suction cups lined the player's mohawk—just like the tentacles she found on Octoling tentacles in the Canyon. And once she could get a good look at him, she noticed he was missing the Inkling mask between his eyes. He wasn't an Inkling at all.

He was an Octoling.

Panic suddenly flooded Delta's system as she watched him raise his roller again. She pulled the trigger out of instinct, unloading a stream of royal blue at his neck. Delta watched him explode in a cloud of blue, horrified. What was an _Octoling_ doing in the National Turf Wars? She thought back to Off the Hook's more recent broadcasts—didn't Pearl say something about a new hairstyle fad?

It wasn't a hairstyle fad.

Delta winced as an orange shot hit her in the back, knocking the competitor out of her thoughts. She whipped around to fend off her attacker, but the second shot bounced harmlessly off Dylan's canopy. Delta's best friend ejected the shield, sending it towards the rival Splattershot player. Delta took the hint, swimming forward and shooting from behind the advancing canopy. Delta crouched low and aimed at the other player's knee, catching him off guard and taking him out in four successive shots.

Delta and Dylan looked at each other, then breathed a synched sigh of relief. With a minute and a half on the clock, they were able to seal the side area, securing a win for Entrenched.

* * *

"That was clutch, guys!" Kai cheered as Entrenched left the Deca Tower. "TGO didn't stand a chance. I mean did you see that pincer move Addam and I did at the end?"

"Sixty to twenty is pretty decisive." Dylan gave a shrug. "Hopefully that'll catch the eyes of a sponsor. Hey Delta—" he turned towards her as she tried to duck out from the group. "—where you going?"

"I'll be back." Delta said as she backed up, pulling her shellphone out of her pocket. "Just gotta make a call real quick." Delta spun back around and tapped Marie's number, planning to inform her about Delta's encounter with the Octoling in the match. If Delta was right, then there was an invasion happening, and the Splatoon would be the only ones who would know about it.

But Delta's call only lead her to Marie's answering machine, so she had to settle for a steadying breath instead. She went back to her team, having to settle for asking Marie about it later instead.

"Hey." Dylan greeted as Delta walked back to the steel table Entrenched had sat at.

"Hey." Delta greeted back. "Where'd Kai and Addam go?"

"They ran off, said something about scouting ahead for dinner ideas tonight." Dylan shrugged. "You know how Kai gets after a match, I swear he wouldn't sit still if I duct taped him to a chair. He'd just..run around in a chair."

"Heh." Delta let out a chuckle. "Probably true."

"So." Dylan began. "What are you gonna do for the rest of today?"

"Well," Delta let out a sigh as she took a seat. "I would have wanted to go hiking, but…" Delta gestured to the metropolis around her. "I think it's gonna take a while to find any sort of woods."

"I can't believe you still like hiking." Dylan smiled into his shellphone. "After all that happened."

"Meh." Delta gave a shrug. "It wasn't so bad."

"'Wasn't so bad?'" Dylan looked at her, incredulous. "Something happened up there. I didn't have to fight off any bullies anymore. You took my job."

"I learned it wasn't supposed to be yours." Delta muttered, poking her fingers through the table's hatchwork. "Thanks though."

"You know," Dylan began as his knee began to bounce. "We made a pretty good team out there today."

"Yeah." Delta looked up at him. "We did."

They both sat in silence for a little while, taking in the colorful bustle of the busy square around them.

"Say," Dylan paused, gathering his words. "Would you wanna—"

Dylan couldn't finish his sentence because Delta's shellphone rang, and a familiar "2" jumped onscreen.

"Sorry." Delta apologized, standing up and grabbing her shellphone. "Hey—"Delta held the phone to her ear. "Can you just give me a second?"

"Did you wanna finish your sentence real quick?" Delta held the shellphone against her shoulder.

"Ah, nah it's cool." Dylan shrugged her off, standing up and grabbing his brella. "I'll just be on my way. Catch you later." Delta watched him head off towards the apartment complex, then shrugged his behavior off and turned her attention back to Marie.

"Okay, so what's up?" Delta asked.

"You got time tomorrow night for a mission?" Marie's voice sounded unsteady, hasty.

"Uh, I can be, sure." Delta replied, taken slightly aback. "But uh, everything okay?"

"Fine." Marie's curt reply didn't sound too convincing, but Delta decided to let it slide.

"Okay then." Delta said. " You want me back at the Canyon?"

"Actually, no." Marie's response surprised Delta a little. "No, our next mission isn't in Octo Canyon at all."

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, reviewed, and read last chapter! I'll bet you were guessing this was a chapter on Sector 3. As much as the old format of two chapters of NSS plot, one buffer chapter of subplot was really working out, I decided I didn't want the story progression to become too predictable. Letting the reader have some guesswork is all well and good, but I didn't want you folks to know what each chapter was going to focus on just because of plot development patterns. Plus, I was looking ahead and realized the subplots were tailing behind a tad and needed some extra time anyway, so I think this should work out. Now that I've set a little extra groundwork, some scenes in the future should come out stronger than what they would have beforehand.**

 **Anyways, enjoy! This chapter's shorter than usual, but that's because I delayed a couple scenes last minute-they fit better in the next chapter.**

 **~RisingPhoenix56**


	10. Chapter 9

Delta readjusted the camo patterned backpack on her shoulder as she checked the map on her shellphone. Squidgle Maps was hardly useful since it assured Delta she was in the middle of nowhere, but Marie was helpful enough to provide latitude and longitude coordinates rather than an address—and planetary coordinates were universal no matter how accurate the map. And judging from her surroundings, Delta figured Marie's next mission was far away from Inkopolis, nestled into wilderness. Looked like she was going to get that hike, after all.

Delta switched her shellphone's flashlight off and slipped it back into her camo hoodie's pocket. She figured the real reason this mountain pass wasn't marked on commercial maps was because it was Octarian territory, which meant the trail she was following could be patrolled by enemy troops. She didn't want a flashlight marking her position, even if there was plenty of cover if she was spotted. Plus, Delta's coach taught her how to navigate by the stars in the sky—a flashlight was more of a luxury rather than necessity. And with the moonlight reflecting off the tall grass around her, Delta didn't really need the flashlight at all.

Delta's foray through the tall grass was rewarded with an unmarked dirt trail, sloping into the mountain face above her. She double-checked her bearings. The outpost Marie wanted to meet at was likely down the trail—remote highlands were a perfect place for a surveillance station near enemy territory. Delta turned onto the trail, walking at a fairly decent clip. Twenty minutes up the trail brought Delta to a rock face twice her size. She looked around for a ladder to the top, but found none. So she simply shrugged her shoulders and grabbed onto a foothold, hoisting her weight upwards and planting her feet on two more foothold. It didn't take long to get to the top, and Delta was pushing through bushes before she knew it.

After Delta made it through the bushes, she looked down to see that one of her shoelaces had come untied. She knelt down to tie her trail boots back up, but froze when something nearly charged out of the darkness, shining a beam of light fell onto her form.

"Oh, cod it's just you." Delta watched Sheldon exhale a breath as he lowered the flashlight.

"Geez, Sheldon." Delta leaned back down to tie her shoes. "You almost gave me a heart attack. I thought you were enemy scouts."

"Luckily, our Octarian 'friends' should still be asleep." Marie's flashlight joined Sheldon's as she came closer. "We should have enough time to get this set up if we get started. And once we're done here we can head back to Octo Canyon."

"Right." Delta straightened herself back up. "You never told me what we're supposed to be doing out here."

"Well, take a look around." Marie's flashlight jumped to the old wooden walls and rusted metal beams of the outpost. "This place dates back to the Great Turf War a hundred years ago—used as a station to reinforce the area and help control Octarian movement. Isolate forces in the Valley and make it harder for them to regroup with other units."

"How does a scout's station pull something like that off?" Delta asked, looking around. It seemed to be little more than a minimalistic observation deck and a few barracks.

"Because look at how spacious the camp is." Marie dragged her beam of light across the plains of grass between the encampment and the cliff face. "And look at where it's located. Back there—" Marie jerked a thumb behind her. "—is Octo Canyon. And if you travel along that trail—" Marie finger moved to point ahead of her. "—you'll find Octo Valley. Both are very popular muster stations for the Octarian military."

"So you're saying that trail this camp overlooks is a popular route for reinforcements to use." Delta looked over the cliff, catching sight of an old and worn road below. "And we're between Octo Valley and Octo Canyon."

"Exactly." Marie cracked a small smile. "And right now, Octavio's main force is in Octo Valley. That's why the Canyon looks so understaffed. We're here to make sure it stays that way."

"Why was Octavio's main force in Octo Valley to begin with?" Delta asked, confused.

"Because he saw some search parties set up on Mount Nantai." Marie folded her arms. "Which is right next to the Valley. And from Octavio's perspective, neighboring search parties look way more threatening than a couple rogue attacks. Especially when there's a rumor going around that I'm running the search parties from Mount Nantai."

"But you've been in the Canyon this whole time." Delta let out a smile as she began to understand. "The entire thing was a big, scary red herring."

"Exactly." Marie confirmed. "And it really helped us. We've been fighting against a skeleton crew in the Canyon, cutting the kettles down to a more manageable size. But..." Marie's smile faltered, turning more serious. "But it's been a week. The search parties are thinning out as squids go back to their daily lives. Plus they never actually stepped foot in Octarian territory, so over time Octavio learned they weren't really much of a threat. The main force is gonna move to Octo Canyon to help defend against the growing 'traitor' threat any day now."

"And we're gonna stop them here?" Delta asked.

"We're gonna slow them down, at least." Marie turned back toward the overlook. "The main force travels by UFO in order to transport the Octarians in a more timely manner, and this route is the only one that can get them to the Canyon without running out of fuel on the way. If we block their path here and force them to take a different route, they'll have to travel on foot. And that'll slow them down considerably."

"Wait," Delta began, growing confused. "How are we gonna do that? We're a force of three against potentially hundreds or thousands."

"You're right." Marie's proud smile returned. "Sheldon, would you do the honors?"

"R-right away!" Sheldon bounded away to the bushes near the far edge of the outpost. He pulled aside a few branches to uncover the opening hatch to a massive, steel shipping container. Delta watched him try to push the lid over his head for a few seconds, then walked over to push the crate open for him.

"Whoa." Delta breathed as she turned her flashlight back on to examine the cargo.

"Is it not the coolest thing you've ever seen?!" Sheldon nearly squealed in excitement behind her.

"Are those…tanks?" Delta's flashlight landed on the barrel of a massive ink gun.

"They look so convincing, don't they?" Sheldon beamed. "Take a closer look." Delta did as she was told, leaning closer to the ink gun's muzzle. Then and only then did she notice a tiny scrap of parchment hanging off the armament.

"Oh, you're kidding me." Delta's mouth curled into a grin of awe as she broke the parchment off, feeling it crinkle in her hands. "They're _paper mache_?"

"Yes!" Sheldon squealed. "Fully accurate replicas of the ink tanks used in the Great Turf War, built with papier mache and all the correct insignias and decorations painted over!"

"Should look exactly how the Octarians remember 'em." Marie added. "Perfectly terrifying fakes. If the commanders of the main force see these laid out on this outpost, there's no way they're going to order the march through a route guarded by these things."

"Even though these tanks can't fire a single shot?" Delta looked back at Marie.

"The Octarians aren't gonna know that." Marie replied. "As far as they're concerned, this old outpost is now suddenly armed with enough tanks to shred their army to pieces if they get close. So any commander worth half their ink is gonna order a detour through a slower route, but one that they know is safer. It's not about being a threat, it's about looking like one."

"That's…genius." Delta let out an impressed chuckle.

"That's strategy." Marie tapped the purple-sleeved book in her hand. "Remember, the ultimate, final rule of battle—is to always try to win without fighting."

"But we didn't call you here to nerd out about tanks." Marie pocketed her book back into her kimono. "We brought you here to set them up. While paper mache is _much_ lighter than an actual tank, its weight adds up. Plus, look at the tank's height—" Marie gestured to the paper mache tank. "And then look at Sheldon."

"Hey!" Sheldon protested, puffing himself up to about a quarter of the tank's size.

"I'll help move 'em." Delta stowed her flashlight away and walked to the first tank. "Uh…how do they move?"

"Oh, they're hollow." Sheldon moved aside. "Just lift them up and grab the beams inside."

"Here." Marie handed Sheldon one of the luggage bags they used to move to Suction Cup Lookout. "I gathered a few supplies from Cuttlefish Cabin. Spread them around to make the place look lived in." Delta and Marie grabbed the bottom of the first tank, lifting it up and slipping inside.

"Smells like glue in here." Delta wrinkled her nose.

"I wonder why." Delta didn't need to see Marie's face to know she rolled her eyes. On the count of three, they lifted the tank by its wooden supports and heaved it to the open grass near the front of the outpost.

"Phew." Delta rolled her shoulders. "How many left?"

"Fifty-nine!" Sheldon beamed back.

"Fifty-nine?!" Delta echoed. "Oh cod."

They were going to be there for a while.

* * *

"Haven't seen this place in a while." Delta commented, looking around the grounds outside Cuttlefish Cabin. After the Splatoon finished setting up the tanks between Octo Canyon and Octo Valley, the team had returned back to Tentakeel Outpost.

"Our plan to relocate worked, though." Marie pointed a finger toward the deserted terrain past the stone archway. "Octarian reinforcements should leave us alone for now."

"What makes you say that?" Sheldon asked as Delta grabbed Marie's binoculars and walked out to the glass floors past the stone archway.

"Would you assume a headquarters would pack up and change locations so quickly?" Delta heard Marie's reply as she lifted the binoculars to her eyes. "Especially to a place you've already checked? As long as they can't locate us, we're safe. You can't attack what you can't find."

"Hey Marie." Delta called as she found the speck of land floating in the purple lake. "Check this out." Delta caught sight of the glistening barrier protecting Cephalon HQ from attack, noticing its bright sheen had dimmed significantly.

"That's really good news." Marie let out a breath as she handed the binoculars back to Delta. "We're making progress. Without the Zapfish we've rescued, Octavio has to reroute power away from the barrier to fuel his army. We might actually have a shot at this if we keep it up."

"So where to next?" Delta asked, scanning the rest of the Canyon with the binoculars. "We've gone through Suction-Cup Lookout, so that leaves Slimeskin Garrison and Beaker's Depot, right?"

"Yup." Marie moved beside Delta, who moved the binoculars between the two locations.

"Looks like Slimeskin Garrison's understaffed." Delta commented, noting the miniscule amount of activity moving to and from the outpost. "There's...hardly anyone there at all. Seems like a good place to hit next if we're prioritizing where the enemy isn't present." Marie took the binoculars to observe for herself.

"…No." Marie said after a long pause. "No, we shouldn't go there at all. Not at all."

"Wait, really?" Delta was surprised. "Why?"

"You see that little station on the rim of the Canyon?" Marie lowered the binoculars to point out the tiny black structure in the distance, just above Slimeskin Garrison. "See how many lights are on at the moment? They weren't there before."

"So that means there's more soldiers there than before." Delta surmised, crossing her arms.

"Right." Marie confirmed. "And that in turn means that lack of cephalopower in Slimeskin Garrison isn't legit. It's an ambush waiting to happen. We need to stay away."

"Okay then." Delta took a breath. "So where do we go next?"

"Well…" Marie paused, hesitant. "Octavio would have had to take the cephalopower from Beaker's Depot to set up the ambush, but…it's not the most ideal place to hit, either."

"Why's that?" Delta asked.

"It's close to the Garrison." Marie replied, giving her yellow parasol a twirl. "If the Octarians sense an attack on Beaker's Depot, there's nothing stopping the excess soldiers for the ambush from reinforcing the Depot. Attacking there is possible, but…risky."

"So we keep it quiet, like in Suction Cup Lookout." Delta gave a shrug.

"Well of course." Marie hastily replied. "But…"

"Who knows." Delta added. "We might find a way to fix that problem on site. But I'm fine with a little risk." Marie was quiet for a moment, staring down at Cephalon HQ.

"You're right." Marie finally answered, pursing her lips and twirling her parasol. "It's not like we have any other choices anyway. But—" Marie looked back at Delta. "You're going in alone this time."

"I am?" Delta raised an eyebrow.

"There's no reason for Sheldon and me to follow you this time." Marie explained. "We'll stay back here and guide you through the video feed. So go gear up—I want to get started in ten minutes. We don't have all night."

* * *

Delta's squid form rocketed toward Beaker's Depot, her feet planting into the steel scaffolding. She started slowly, scanning the environment. Beaker's Depot's shredded layout consisted mostly of metal beams and incomplete scaffolding, clumsily suspended in midair and connected by ink rails. Delta cautiously poked her head over the landing's ledge, surveying the central platform below.

"Looks clear." Delta heard Marie's voice over the radio. "But I don't know why. Be careful." Delta fired at the ink rail, her hand against the orange handle of her brand new Hero Shot.

"Ha!" Sheldon's voice popped over the radio. "That would have taken two shots with the last model!"

"Yeah, yeah." Delta waved him off as she hopped on the ink rail, riding her way down. "I'll admit it, you were right. But did you have to get rid of the color palette?"

"Wait, really?" Sheldon paused. "You kept complaining about the yellow on your jacket."

"Yeah I know." Delta shrugged as she slid down the ink rail. "But it kinda…grew on me."

"Grew on you?" Sheldon gave a chuckle. "The tough-as-nails Delta has a softer side. You hearing this, Marie?"

No reply.

"Uh, Marie?" Sheldon tried again.

"Ah!" Marie cleared her throat. "Sorry. You were saying?"

"Uh, guys?" Delta called over the radio as she looked around Beaker's Depot. "Is it just me, or does this place seem...off to you? You know, not like the others?"

"Those cranes…" Marie muttered to herself as Delta's eyes turned to the yellow and rusty beams around Beaker's Depot. "The Octarians are using them to hold islands up, rather than rely on antigravity technology."

"Oh!" Sheldon suddenly spoke up. "What's the temperature like over there?"

"Pretty hot actually, now that you mention it." Delta fanned her collar as she watched steam rise from below the suspended ground. "But…why is that important?"

"Temperature affects superconductivity!" Sheldon beamed through the radio. "The hotter the surroundings, the more difficult it is for the conductor to repel the earth's magnetic field lines. For some reason this specific spot is hotter than the rest of the Canyon, so their antigravity doesn't work as well here. That's why there's cranes around holding everything up."

"Huh." Delta frowned in thought. "Maybe it's got something to do with the giant tentacle rock below us—wouldn't be surprised if there's a geyser attached to an underground hot spring in there."

"Octarian UFOs account for this climate change, though!" Sheldon rambled on. "They have special coolant chambers for their superconducting material. That way they can repel against any magnetic force!"

"Wait." Marie's voice popped over the radio. "Say that last part again?"

"…they can repel against any magnetic field?" Sheldon repeated, unsure.

"So like that giant iron crane to Delta's left?" Delta turned to look at the massive rusted beam, held afloat by thrusters rather than antigravity.

"If it's magnetic iron, sure." Sheldon took a moment to think about it.

"Agent 4, see if you can find any iron to throw at the crane to test it out." Marie ordered over the radio. "If this works, the magnetic force can halt the UFOs right in their tracks and keep them from landing."

Delta looked at her feet, noting a crude tic-tac-toe game scribbled into the steel floor with some chalk. She let out a small chuckle as she realized the game ended in a tie—most tic-tac-toe games do—and bent down to pick up the mess of twisted paperclips next to the game board. Delta studied the paperclips for a brief moment—they looked as if someone had tried to bend them together into a design but couldn't organize their thoughts or lost interest—or both.

Delta took the paperclips to the other side of Beaker's Depot and flung them at the crane with all her might. She waited, listening closely. After a few more seconds Delta's ears could pick out the tiny "ting" as they stuck to the iron crane.

"It works." Delta reported over the radio.

"Thank cod." Marie breathed. "I saw a control center under the ink rail you used to get to the central platform. Use that to move the crane between Beaker's Depot and Slimeskin Garrison."

"Understood." Delta made her way to the panel, hearing a massive screech as the crane moved over. "That leaves the question of Octolings on this outpost."

"Well," Marie began. "If they're here, I'll bet their kettle is somewhere high, where they can overlook the rest of the Depot. Especially since we haven't seen anyone patrolling here like in Suction Cup Lookout."

"I might know just the place." Delta turned her head to the trailer above the central platform, suspended by yet another crane.

* * *

Delta's hunch turned out to be right. She stood out of the kettle to find herself in a dimly lit roller skating park, its layout not unfamiliar to her.

"They have the map for Humpback Pump Track, too?" Delta wondered aloud, recognizing the brown hump in the center of the stage.

"Well, if they've got the blueprints for one it makes sense that they'd have others." Sheldon surmised over the radio. "But do me a favor and stay put, all right? Don't go wandering off before your armor gets there."

"Oh you fixed it?" Delta asked, turning around to look for Sheldon's drone.

"Miraculously." Sheldon replied, scoffing. "I couldn't believe it. It worked perfectly for the last Octoling kettle, but you just _had_ to get shredded by the first Octarian you find."

"It wasn't my fault!" Delta defended as she watched the hardworking drone buzz its way out of the kettle, heaving the black briefcase behind it. "It jumped me the moment I landed!"

"Well, whatever." Sheldon said as Delta donned the helmet, admiring the suit's galactic sheen once again. "Just be more careful this time, okay? Darn thing lasted all of thirty minut—"

"Shh!" Marie finally spoke up, hissing over the radio. "Do you guys hear that? Or is it just me?"

"Hear what?" Sheldon asked as Delta listened closer. Now that Marie mentioned it, Delta could pick out a faint cadence bleeding into her ears.

"There's…music." Marie told Sheldon. "I don't know where it's coming from, but…it's there."

"Oh!" Sheldon piped back up. "Now that you mention it, I could hear a tune in the last Octoling kettle, too."

"Wait, really?" Delta advanced, taking shelter behind one of Humpback Pump Track's walls.

"You didn't notice?" Sheldon asked, mildly surprised.

"Well no," Delta replied, peeking out of cover to survey the area again. Still no sign of Octolings. "I was too busy trying not to get splatted."

"Pfft." Sheldon waved Delta's reply off, then grew silent. "Uh, Marie? You…okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." Marie confirmed. "Just...be careful, Agent 4. I don't like the looks of this. We should have seen some Octolings by now."

"I don't like it either." Agent 4 replied, but she kept the rest of her thoughts to herself. That was the third time Sheldon had to grab Marie's attention. Delta's mentor seemed more out of it, when she usually had her head in the game. And Delta didn't know what to do about it.

"A-anyway," Sheldon continued. "You're gonna have to advance if we still want to take out their communications relay. I see it right on top of that hill in front of you."

"Right, I see it too." Delta's eyes turned toward the white console at the center of the stage. Sheldon's subtle redirection was right—now wasn't the time to be worrying about what wasn't right in front of her.

"Do the same thing we did at Suction Cup Lookout, and we should be good to go." Sheldon's voice sounded more distant as he kicked back in his chair.

"Just move more carefully." Marie followed up. "I really don't like this. And try not to get held at gunpoint this time." Delta jumped down onto Humpback's go-kart track, brushing Marie's last comment off with a scoff. The dim lighting made it hard to see, but there were still no signs of any sort of opposition. Delta advanced further, catching a glimpse of pink out of the corner of her eye. She turned to find a bundle of Rolonium, sitting inexplicably in the center of the dimly lit track. Delta pursed her lips, still deciding to continue. She could tell something was off, but Agent 4 knew whatever it was would be so much worse if she didn't disable communications.

Delta made the jump down to the final level, and walked up the hill with no resistance. She made her way to the console and switched it off, this time holding her Hero Shot close. Agent 4 had the console lid open and her hand around the last wire when she saw the tiny little vial, propped upright by a dark stand.

The console was booby-trapped.

Delta leapt backwards, using the force from the push to sever the last cord in her hands. She might have been found, but she wasn't about to let the word get out if she could do something about it. She heard the sound of glass shattering as the trap was sprung, spreading not one but two clouds of toxic mist around the agent. The stinging tingle on Delta's uncovered tentacles told her she hadn't jumped far enough away, and her legs stalled under the mist's influence. The floor under her feet vibrated as she heard four Super Jumps land behind her. Agent 4 whipped around, blindly firing her Hero  
Shot into the purple fog. She heard a gurgle as an Octoling went down—apparently Delta's blind shooting earned her a splat.

She felt Sheldon's armor tremble as purple flicked into her face. Whoever was using the roller was too far away to do any real damage, but the light hit still served as a reminder to keep moving. Delta pushed herself backwards a little more, finally breaking free of the toxic mist.

"Heads up!" Marie barked over the radio. "To your left!" Delta pivoted left, catching a telltale red light from Octoling sunglasses peeking through the darkness. It jumped up as the Octoling readied another swing, and Delta fired her Hero Shot at the red light. She heard a thunk as the roller dropped to the floor, and the Hero Shot's muzzle flare picked out the mist from the splat. Delta spared a second glance at the new Hero Shot, grateful that Sheldon upgraded it. She wouldn't have been able to take that Octoling out in time with the older version.

"That's two." Sheldon counted.

"Two more to go." Marie followed up.

A bundle of Rolonium flew over Delta's head, as if on cue. She swirled around, hugging the wall behind her for cover. Agent 4 tapped the red button on her tank, calling forth a splat bomb. She flung it over the wall, listening to its explosion. Delta let out a sigh of relief as she heard the blast come with a splat. One more left.

Her ears picked up the sound of a weapon's safety clicking off, and Agent 4 dove out of the way. A line of purple ink shot towards where Delta had stood a moment ago. Delta raised her own weapon toward the attacker, but she froze when she realized the Octoling had her weapon aimed straight at her.

They stared each other down for a moment, Hero Shot to Octo Shot. Delta kept her breath even despite the fact that her gut was squeezing itself into a knot, not wanting to give the Octoling a reason to shoot. But the more she stared at the enemy, the more…familiar her features became. Her red tentacles were noticeably thin—Delta could see the Octoling's entire face if it wasn't for the shades. She'd seen that before. The Octoling slowly lifted a finger off her grip on the Octo Shot, almost as if she was pointing at Delta.

"Straight tentacle." The Octoling slurred out in a familiar, thick accent. "I remember now. Long, no suction cup. Inkling, no Octo. No traitor." Delta's eyebrows raised under the visor, and she heard Marie groan in frustration over the radio. But the Octoling's broken yet barely comprehensible speech was enough for Delta to recognize her.

"You're the one from Suction Cup Lookout." Delta breathed, but still made sure to keep her Hero Shot trained on the Octoling. "You're the one that tried to capture me."

"You Splatoon." The Octoling replied. "I knew you try to break machine again, so I set trap. Found you."

"Uh-huh." Delta pulled the Hero Shot's chamber pin back, making sure it was ready to fire. "So you found me. What are you gonna do now?"

"Shoot." The Octoling's eyebrows narrowed behind her shades, before twisting into uncertainty. "Uh…lots."

"Right." Delta hid her amused smile behind the visor. "It's gonna take lots and lots of shots to take out not only my armor but me too. I'll bet you don't think you can do it before I splat you."

"Not true." The Octoling's grip tightened harder on her Octo Shot.

"Very true." Delta kept calm. "It's why you haven't fired yet. You're waiting for bullets to dodge."

"No matter." The Octoling's shoulders rose, betraying a steadying breath. "Others will come soon. They'll call me Captain Ayla for keeping you here."

"So she's trying to stall you here so the Garrison troops can come reinforce her." Marie's voice reappeared over the radio. "That's brave. Not smart, but brave. But don't tell her they can't reach the Depot anymore."

"Word of advice." Delta turned her attention back to Ayla. "Don't wait for others to vanquish danger for you. And definitely, in both life and combat—" Delta fired, turning Ayla into splatted mist. "—don't wait for bullets to dodge. It doesn't make you dodge them any better."

"YO!" Sheldon cheered over the radio. "Delta that was awesome!"

"Agh." Marie groaned, clearly not in as celebratory a mood. "That was really smart of them..."

"I splatted that Ayla days ago." Delta checked for any leftover threats, but her search turned up none. "Why was she here today? I thought they couldn't respawn anyone for a month."

"I thought so, too." Marie replied, letting out a sigh. "The only explanation is that they managed to reroute enough power to respawn her. With the security cameras compromised, that Octoling regiment was the only one that saw you. So it would make sense they'd try to bring them back."

"So now their respawn pads are operational." Delta guessed.

"Not exactly." Marie replied. "I'll bet they needed to turn something important off in order to have enough power to respawn. I don't think they would just leave the respawns on. I imagine they're saving it for select Octarians, like Ayla."

"Who also noticed I'm not a traitor." Delta thought back to her conversation with Ayla.

"Yeah." Marie sighed again. "That was really unfortunate. She's gonna tell her commanders the moment she's respawned. So our cover's blown. They know who we are now."

"I'm guessing that's bad." Delta replied.

"It's definitely not ideal." Marie let out a cough. "At any rate, the kettles should be open for ambush now. Time to get to work."

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, favorited, followed, and read so far! I hope you liked the newest chapter-things are starting to come together plot-wise, and the Octarians are adapting. I'm also hoping Sheldon's magnetic physics rant wasn't too technical to understand, I wasn't the best at magnetics so consequently I'm not very good at simplifying it. Maybe it's best if I define superconductor here-it's a material that, when cooled to a certain temperature, will repel all magnetic influences. These things honestly look like they're levitating, it's pretty cool.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed!**


	11. Chapter 10

"All right, I'm here." Delta stood out of the kettle and was instantly greeted by the usual matrix of disjointed walkways. "Where's the thing?"

"One new weapon, coming right up!" Sheldon's drone popped out of the kettle behind Delta, dutifully carrying the black briefcase. Agent 4 fetched the cargo, resting it on the ground and lifting the lid to look inside.

"May I present—the Hero Slosher!" Sheldon sounded like he was selling an ad on TV. "Perfectly equipped to handle any Octarian baddy, this fella will be dumping on the competition!"

"Sheldon." Delta let out a sigh, more upset with herself that she didn't see this coming.

"Its perfect use of inertia and utterly optimized centrifugal manipulation make it a must have for holding the high ground—" The horseshoe crab showed no signs of stopping.

"Sheldon." Delta tried again.

"—not to mention the absolute genius use of gravity, coupled with vector forces of motion that give it an extra—um, yes Four?"

"This is a bucket, Sheldon." Delta gestured to the black tub, complete with a yellow handle.

"What?" Sheldon's voice squeaked, horrified that Delta would say such a thing. "N-no it's not! It's a Slosher—a, uh, totally different thing."

"Sheldon I'm not convinced you just grabbed a bucket out of the supply closet, slapped a second handle on it—" Delta tapped the yellow beam across the base of the Slosher. "—and then handed it to me."

"It's not a bucket! I promise!" Sheldon protested. "Marie, tell her it's not a bucket."

"I am not getting in the middle of this." Delta could hear Marie's chair screech against the floor as she backed up.

"All right, look." Sheldon continued, undeterred. "Just try it out. You'll see how different it is." Delta heaved the thing forward, watching the violet puddle flop unceremoniously onto the ground.

"Yep, it's a bucket." Delta confirmed as her ears picked up Marie's laughter over the radio.

"It's a Slosher!" Sheldon insisted, then huffed in exasperation.

"Okay, okay!" Marie butted in, still chuckling. "Whatever it is, we need to keep moving. Because believe me, I wouldn't forgive either of you if we got caught because we were arguing over whether it's a Slosher or a bucket."

"Fine, fine." Delta leapt through the jump pad, and took out the Octotrooper with a single swish. "You know, this bucket isn't too bad."

"Slosher." Sheldon pointedly corrected with a grumble. "And thanks…I guess." Delta inked the nearby wooden wall, swimming up to its top. She was met with a grassy walkway, and caught yellow movement on the far end of the path. Delta had figured it was nothing more than a harmless animal or some tumbleweed, but the sound of Marie choking on her drink made her think twice.

"After it!" Marie sputtered out between coughs. "Hurry!"

"Why?" Delta asked, taking off toward where she last saw movement.

"That was a Tentakook." Marie cleared her throat. "They're used as messengers in the Octarian army. Delta, after that last Octoling kettle, it's really, really important that we intercept whatever it's carrying."

"Understood." Delta took a step forward, only to leap back—narrowly missing the splash zone of an exploding splat bomb.

"Oh yeah." Marie added with an awkward cough. "They drop bombs too. Sorry—forgot to mention that." Delta let out an exasperated sigh, but snapped out of it when she saw a yellow flash of...something slip past her. It dropped another splat bomb as she dumped a puddle of ink at it, taking off toward the next jump pad. Delta cornered the thing before it could escape, finally managing to splat it—distracting it with one of her own bombs and following up with the Slosher.

"I'm still seeing the glitter." Delta commented as she pulled the slip of paper from the shimmering puddle of violet.

"Ooh, what does it say?" Sheldon cut to the chase. Delta unfurled the short piece of parchment, holding it up for Sheldon and Marie to see.

"I... just realized how futile my question is." Sheldon mumbled in defeat as Delta stared at the unreadable Octarian script.

"I can decipher it with enough time." Marie replied slowly, thinking as she spoke. "I just need the whole thing. That doesn't look like the full message."

"It's not?" Delta pulled the paper closer to examine it more. To her untrained eye, the text seemed complete. Whoever wrote it stopped writing. Usually that meant the writer was, well…done writing.

"There's no insignia." Marie pointed out. "No signature at the bottom either—plus it cuts off midsentence. Octarians do this so we don't steal their messages. If one Tentakook goes down, only a useless fraction of the information is compromised. I'd say this is about half the info."

"So we have to find another Tentakook." Delta surmised.

"Right." Marie confirmed as a sigh came over the radio. "It should be somewhere around here, so keep an eye out for it."

That second Tentakook, however, proved to be one of the most annoying things in Delta's life. The next Tentakook she came across was a decoy. And the one after that. And the one after that. There had to be tens of the things in the kettle, each one looking the exact same as the next—but none had the paper slip Delta was looking for.

"I'm gonna take five." Delta sat down on the ground, resting her back against the wall of the guard rail.

"Um." Marie began, unsure. "That's quite a place you picked for a break."

"How's that?" Delta opened an eye to look up at the kettle's projected sky.

"Well." Marie let out a long, barely restrained sigh. "Should I start with the fact that it's smack dab in the middle of enemy territory?"

"These Tentakooks are driving me nuts." Delta replied slowly. "I'm gonna rest here before I lose my sanity."

"…Five minutes." Marie conceded through the sudden static that popped over the radio. "I'm timing you."

"You know." Delta began after a brief pause. "You never told me about those Octolings."

"Huh?" Marie's voice came back over the radio. "What Octolings?"

"The ones in the Square." Delta drew her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her shins. "Remember? I found some Octoling Turf players?"

"Oh, right…" Marie closed a book. "Yeah, don't worry about them. They're harmless."

"Harmless?" Delta echoed. "How?"

"It's…difficult to explain." Marie began, trying to find words. "Difficult to understand too, and I was there. Remember when I told you about the last time the Octarians tried to steal the Great Zapfish, two years ago?"

"Yeah." Delta wasn't sure how that was relevant.

"Callie had this brazen idea to play Calamari Inkantation over the radio." Marie continued. "I was confused, but she was insistent—so we went ahead and did it. And then…the weirdest thing happened."

"What?" Delta tilted her head in curiosity.

"It was like…" Marie paused again. "Like all Octarian morale just…vanished. They loved it. They didn't want to fight against it. The song easily turned the tide of the battle."

"You realize what you sound like when you say that." Sheldon interjected. "Right?"

"Yes, I know." Marie waved him off. "Trust me, if I had heard from the kelp vine that our song was capable of such behavioral changes, I would have fired my marketing director. But I was there, and I know what I saw. And not too long after the fight, we saw more and more Octolings defect to our side."

"So they're defectors?" Delta queried as she stood back up. She didn't hear Marie's response, instead focusing her attention of the yellow blur that sped around the corner.

"That's the other one!" Sheldon cried out over the radio, but Delta was already hot in pursuit. She turned the corner to find no less than seven different Tentakooks, roaming around in a maze of twists and turns. And the Tentakook with the message had successfully blended in with the other six.

"Oh my cod." Marie groaned. "This is just ridiculous." Delta took the time to take a second look at the terrain. The four raised areas created three corridors, almost like latticework. Each pathway had a series of wooden ramps, and at the other side was a ramp way sloping up to an overlook.

"I think I've got an idea." Delta flung a puddle of ink into the center pathway, spooking three Tentakooks into fleeing deeper into the maze. She moved to the other two paths, frightening the others into doing the same.

"Oh, I get it." Marie said as Delta corralled all seven Octarians into fleeing up to the overlook. "You're shepherding them."

"Yup." Delta tossed a splat bomb at the group before swimming back down to the landing, weapon at the ready. The Tentakooks floated right into her trap, easily splatted into pools of violet. "It's a useful little skill you pick up in rural life."

"Well, it certainly worked." Marie replied as Delta fished the last fragment of the message from the puddle. "Take that Zapfish above you and head on back. That's two fish with one bucket."

"...Slosher."

* * *

Marie scribbled her pencil onto the paper, watching the graphite finally form legible letters. She'd been at it for over an hour, hunched over the desk at Cuttlefish Cabin and painstakingly translating every word of the Octarian message with a dictionary. The darn thing had taken so long, Delta had already returned from Beaker's Depot and was napping before the Great Octoweapon fight. Agent 2 had finally managed to translate each word into Inklish, but still couldn't read it until she knew how the sentence functioned grammatically. Octarians had a habit of putting the verb at the end of each subject, leaving Marie to figure out what was the subject noun versus the direct object. She let out a drained sigh as she reached for her coffee. Octarian was not her strong suit.

Marie steeled herself, focusing on one sentence at a time. With a little bit of rearranging, she managed to pick out something that finally started to make sense:

"Make sure the pyrotechnic brigades bring the barrels with them."

 _Well_. Marie thought to herself. _That was quite an opening sentence_. If fire brigades were ordered to bring barrels, Marie could assume they were barrels filled with oil for burning. So what were they going to set on fire?

"DJ Octavio wants them poured around the Garrison's central square to prevent escape. Companies Charlie and Tango will bring the searchlights, and of course the lead engineering team handles the wasabi. Notify pyrotechnics that they will also be handing out the civilian invitations—DJ Octavio wants a big turnout, and sending the fire girls sends a message.

—Maj. Gen. Jane"

Marie leaned back in her chair, processing. The message proved her hunch was right—there was indeed a planned ambush at Slimeskin Garrison. But... using fire as a weapon? Bringing pyrotechnics? Searchlights? The preparations were way over the top for a simple ambush.

Marie's eyes stopped at "civilian invitations," and she realized she misinterpreted the message. Civilian invitations. Of course. This was DJ Octavio after all. The only thing he craves more than fighting over territory was a good show. That explains the searchlights—they were instead spotlights. And on second glance, the fire was described as entrapping rather than an offense. Octavio was going to turn the invader's capture into a performance.

Marie rubbed her thumb over her cheek as she rested her head in her palm. This was valuable insight into Octavio's mind—it was a clear tell that Octavio was a showy slob. But he was still a showy slob with an army. Octavio still had military might—Marie would have to figure out how to defang the octopus first before even considering a takedown.

Marie pushed her chair out, standing up from her desk. She was more than ready for a break, translating had made her feel like her brain was ready to bleed through her ears. Marie poked her head into the bunkroom, checking on the others. Delta had since woken from her nap and was playing cards with Sheldon as they waited for Marie to finish working.

"You guys hungry?" Marie asked, watching them turn their heads toward the senior agent.

"Sure." Delta put down her hand and hopped off the bunk bed, following Marie into the kitchen.

"What's for dinner?" Sheldon asked, waddling his way over.

"We're about to find out." Marie opened the fridge and gripped the cardboard box sitting at the bottom, yanking it out and onto the kitchen counter.

"Uh." Sheldon paused, eying the box with suspicion. "What kind of food comes in a giant box like that?"

"The indestructible kind." Marie pulled a scissors from the drawer and started cutting the plastic fasteners away. Marie put the scissors down as Delta pulled the cardboard flaps open. "It lasts best in a fridge but can really go anywhere, honestly we could get nuked and these things would still be shelf stable."

"Oh." Sheldon let out a disappointed sigh. "Those."

"Not a fan of MREs?" Marie asked, turning the box upside down to dump the compact bags onto the table.

"Who's a fan of dried catfish in a bag?" Sheldon complained, but nonetheless grabbed one for himself.

"I'm confused..." Delta turned back to Marie. "Why are we picking these for dinner? We have a kitchen right here."

"Eh." Marie shrugged. "I don't feel like cooking." Delta let out a small smirk, but otherwise said nothing.

"All right, but I have a question." Delta said as she sat down at the table.

"Shoot." Marie sat down opposite Delta.

"Remind me again—" Delta ripped her bag open, dumping its contents onto the table. "—why is this place secure when it's in the middle of enemy territory?"

"Because would you expect your enemy's headquarters to be within your own borders?" Marie answered, casually dumping water into the main course's bag. "Even if Octavio sensed we were based closer than he thought, Tentakeel Outpost is notoriously hard to reach with the UFOs, hence why it's hardly ever staffed. Same goes for the original cabin's location in Octo Valley. Gramps made sure Octarian troops don't really stumble into these areas. You'd have to know what you're looking for to find it, and only Splatoon members know where the cabins are. As I said earlier, you can't attack what you can't find."

"Huh." Delta pulled the cardboard sleeve off her flameless ration heater, pulling her meal packets out.

"But anyway." Marie spoke after a moment of silence, turning around to look at Delta's bunk bed. "I'd wager _someone is_ trying to join the army." She jabbed an amused thumb at the perfectly made and pressed bed sheets, with Delta's change of clothes folded neatly on top. Camo facemask. Camo hoodie. Camo backpack. Trail boots. Delta's choice of clothing couldn't have made it any more obvious, not even if she added a giant sign that read "I WANT TO JOIN THE ARMY."

"Heh."Delta meekly looked down at her chili, cheeks tinged in slight embarrassment. "That obvious, huh?"

"Have you met with a recruiter yet?" Marie curiously asked, pulling her lemon pound cake out of its wrapping.

"Nah." Delta shook her head. "They don't really look at you until you've started a career in turf wars. I'm hoping to get some interest after Nationals, but that only works if we do well."

"I'm hearing you guys are doing really good." Sheldon's head bobbled up and down to agree with Marie. "To still be in winner's bracket this far into Nationals is nothing to sneeze at."

"Yeah, so hopefully my plan is working." Delta stared at her spoon.

"Why do you want to enlist?" It was a question Marie had wanted to ask for a while, but didn't want to intrude when they had first met. She figured now would be more appropriate, since they were on the subject.

"That's…a bit of a story." Delta replied, setting her glass down. Marie and Sheldon looked at each other.

"I'm down if you're down." Marie shrugged back.

"All right." Delta poked at her chili. "Well, I wasn't always so confident and determined. I was an utter pushover as a kid. Quiet, shy, never wanted to rock the boat—I was a prime target for bullies."

"Wait, seriously?" Sheldon asked, incredulous—and Marie silently agreed with him. Between the determined fire in her eyes, the sheer confidence with a Splattershot, and her resilient attitude, Delta didn't look like the kind of squid one wanted to mess with. That's why Marie picked her, after all.

"Yeah, I wasn't anything like I am today." Delta answered, giving a small nod. "Beatings, name calls, practical 'jokes,' I had it all. They knew I never wanted to stir a fuss, so they knew I wouldn't fight back. I was easy, I was low-risk, so I was their favorite. It went on for years, and I didn't do anything about it. Then one day my school took a camping trip to Mount Nantai."

"The school took this trip every year." Delta lifted her glass, staring into the neon green that was the electrolyte drink. "Since there's a lot of military families in Echo's Edge, outdoor camping is very popular. But in that particular year, I had a lot of trouble. My parents had just divorced the previous month, and I was really...out of it. The trip itself went fine, and we were packing up to leave when I started to feel like squit."

"Squit?" Sheldon echoed, riveted.

"As in sick?" Marie asked.

"Not...physical sick." Delta's brow furrowed as she recalled the memory. "All of a sudden it felt like the world was shrinking. The walls looked like they were closing in, the trees felt smaller, the classmates louder... I needed to get away. So I broke off from the group and ventured up the mountain."

"I wandered to the lake our instructors took us to earlier in the trip." Delta continued. "Sat on a rock and stared at the water's edge. There wasn't any wind at the time so the lake's surface was perfectly still, and I could see my reflection on the water. I stared at it for a good long time, just...thinking."

"And then what happened?" Marie asked.

"I...fell asleep." Delta took a bite of chili. "Didn't really know how long I was out, but it was almost sundown when I woke up—and we were supposed to leave in the early afternoon." She swallowed. "I ran back to camp as fast as I could, but everyone was long gone. I was freaking out by then. I started down the path to where the buses were supposed to pick us up. And that's when I heard the thunder."

"Uh oh…" Sheldon muttered.

"In my panic I didn't pay attention to the sky. Dark clouds had formed in a matter of minutes, and I saw the canopy start to close over Inkopolis. If the lockdown sequence had already started, I knew it was gonna be a big storm."

Marie silently nodded, looking down at her MRE. Since unfiltered water was lethal to Inklings, Inkopolis developed a warning system for when a large rainstorm was approaching. But there was only one event that would cause the staff to go as far as raising the city's protective canopy, and that was a monsoon.

"I had about five minutes before the storm hit." Delta continued with her story. "So I abandoned my trek and raced back up to the summit to look for shelter. The wind had kicked up out of nowhere and basically pushed me into this cave. I didn't question it and ran deeper in to protect myself against driving rain."

"How old were you?" Marie asked.

"Fourteen." Delta replied, taking another bite of chili. "The monsoon raged for an entire day. There was no way a rescue team could make it out to me until it passed."

"So you were out there, alone, for a day." Marie could hardly believe it. Left behind, alone in a monsoon, trapped in a cave. It was a perfect disaster.

"I found out I wasn't alone." Delta replied with a nervous chuckle. "About...six hours in I'd say—it was difficult to tell time—I heard the deepest growl I'd ever heard in my life. It took an hour for it to advance into the light, and it was a fully-grown tiger fish. And it didn't like that I'd entered its lair."

Marie stayed silent again. A tiger fish alone would have been a huge problem, let alone trapped with one in a monsoon. Those fish were famous predators, sporting an upper half not unlike the tigers of old, and the lower half of the piranha they evolved from.

"I thought I was going to die." Delta continued. "And then, as I watched it advance...something just...came over me. I guess I snapped. I was just...done. Done. I was done with being someone else's punching bag. I was done with being someone else's prey. I was done with not doing anything about it. Getting pushed around wasn't how I wanted to live my life."

"So why let it happen? For once it was time to defend what I wanted, and at that point I wanted to live. I wanted to live with every fiber of my being, every ounce of my body. And I decided I wasn't going to let anything get in my way, be it a hundred pound tiger fish or a jerk of a classmate. So I grabbed the biggest rock I could find."

Sheldon gulped, then realized there was food he could be gulping instead.

"It decided to lunge at me, and after a tussle I managed to hang onto its back. I jammed the rock into its mouth, and luckily it was the right size. The rock pinned the jaw open, keeping the tiger fish from closing its mouth. It ran off in a panic, and didn't bother me for the rest of the night." Delta scooped up the last of her chili. "Because—I learned later—tiger fish are afraid of injury. It attacked me because it thought I was easy, and when I proved I could hurt it the predator backed off to protect itself. I heard the rock fall out from somewhere in the cave, but it still left me alone. Didn't want to get shown up by a fourteen year old again, I guess."

"The rescue team came in the morning." Delta continued, finishing up her cracker. "They were military reserve units, and completely impressed with me. Said I was one tough girl for handling all that on my own. And coming from soldiers—who have a high standing in Echo's Edge—that made me feel pretty darn proud."

"A few days later the bullies returned. They always came with a ringleader—this guy called Krej. Rumor had it he was the one who took my stuff and faked my attendance so I'd get left behind. He said he wished I'd stayed lost out there, and that same feeling from the cave hit me again."

"I told him no asked for his opinion. He told me he didn't like it when squids talked to him like that. I said I didn't care, I'm not a jerk whisperer. They kinda looked at each other after that."

Marie smirked at that one. Jerk whisperer? That was a pretty awesome comeback, even by Marie's standards.

"I thought I had broken their brain enough for them to leave me alone." Delta continued. "So I started to walk away. But I felt Krej grab my arm, and…that was it. I socked him in the gut so hard, he was heaving for a good five minutes."

"They left me alone after that. And I started training with my coach not long afterwards. Turned out he saw the whole thing, and told me he could help me train my newest talent. Four years later and it's a pretty useful inner beast of mine." Delta let out a contented sigh. "I threw myself into training. Close quarters combat, marksmanship, the philosophy behind it all—I lived for this stuff. My coach told me I could find a use for it in the military, and I've been trying to get in ever since."

"Wow." Marie leaned back in her chair, thoroughly impressed. "That's…incredible." She knew Delta's answer to Marie's question was going to have some juicy content, but she hadn't expected _that_.

"Yeah, it was pretty intense for a while." Delta finished up the last of her chili. "Turns out that rock I used against the tiger fish was closer to my campfire that I thought, and I ended up burning my hand on it without realizing. A little piece of it scarred over time." Delta held her right hand over the table, palm facing up. Marie and Sheldon leaned in to look at it, and Marie could make out a tiny patch of discolored skin at the heel of Delta's palm—roughly in the shape of a bent teardrop.

"You know…" Sheldon spoke up. "Not for nothing, it kinda looks like a Rainmaker."

"Leave it to Sheldon to instantly think of a weapon." Delta let out an amused chuckle. "But yeah, I guess you're right. At any rate-"Delta withdrew her hand, standing up from the table. "We still have an Octoweapon to fight."

"Right." Marie gathered the last of the dinner off the table, dumping the trays into the kitchen sink for later when she wasn't feeling as lazy (spoiler alert: she'd never do the dishes). "You ready to go?"

"Only need one thing." Delta grabbed her Hero Shot by her bed before making her way towards the underground entrance. "See you guys when I get back."

* * *

The Octostomp was the latest Octoweapon, and it was almost laughably easy. Fighting it had gone without a hitch, and Delta quickly found herself with a new Zapfish to return. After a quick Super Jump, Delta landed back at Tentakeel Outpost.

"Welcome back." Marie turned to greet Delta. "No trouble this time. You're getting better at this."

"Yeah, I guess so." Delta pulled her ink tank off her shoulders as Sheldon grabbed the Zapfish. She moved over to the table to rest her legs—after bolting from each of the Octostomp's attacks, Delta's feet felt sore. Delta's eyes caught sight of the tiger lily from the first Zapfish, drifting up and down in a jar full of water on the table.

"That's good news." Marie spoke as she sat down at the table, but she was interrupted by a bonk from the tank.

"Hi, Larry." All three replied in unison. Delta was about to continue the conversation, but her thoughts were interrupted by a loud pop-followed by a threatening crackle. All heads turned to Marie's radio, sitting more than a yard away from any sort of audio input.

"...The heck?" Marie stood up to walk towards the desk, Delta and Sheldon following close behind her. The radio hadn't stopped, still cackling static even though the microphone had been disabled.

"Is it that CPOD interference?" Delta asked as Marie picked the radio up, turning the gadget over to inspect it.

"I don't know." Sheldon's big eyes narrowed through his goggles. "That seems much more...aggressive."

"R-ru..." Delta swore she heard a grainy voice bleed through the static. "Lea..."

"I don't like this." Marie muttered, holding the radio closer to inspect it.

"LEAVE NOW!" The voice screamed next to Marie's ear, laden with sparking static. Marie yelped, dropping the radio onto the ground as she stumbled to the floor in surprise.

"That's not CPOD interference!" Sheldon hollered as he scrambled back. The radio screeched out a final pop as it hit the ground, finally silent.

"What..." Marie breathed out, panting. "What the carp...was that?"

"I...don't know." Delta gathered the courage to pick the radio up. She jumped a little when the batteries clattered to the ground as she lifted it off the floor.

"So that's why it stopped..." Sheldon tapped his crab shell. "The fall caused the batteries to pop out."

"But what was happening to begin with?" Delta asked, turning to Sheldon. "My mic was off. It shouldn't have been picking any sound up."

"I mean…" Sheldon gave an unsure shrug. "Now that I think about it, it _could_ have been radio interference. That voice could have been another Octarian channel that just happened to bleed into our frequency. You know, like those bad quality discriminators that combine normal radio channels."

"You think?" Delta asked. She wasn't so sure this was as benign as Sheldon made it out to be. Delta reinserted the batteries and turned the radio back on, turning the dial to shift through frequencies. Nothing. Whatever it was, it had stopped.

"Gotta go with the simplest explanation, right?" Sheldon didn't sound so convinced.

"All right, that's it." Marie managed to gather herself off the floor. "I know Sheldon's our tech expert, and he says it's fine—but it's still a good idea to take precautions. Let's lay low for a while."

"You think that's a good idea?" Delta pressed. "We've got some good momentum going. Shouldn't we take advantage of things more?"

"The only thing we should ever take advantage of is their mistakes." Marie took the radio from Delta, switching it off before gingerly placing it back on the desk. "And right now they need to make a few more. Our momentum's gonna come screeching to a halt soon anyway." Delta and Sheldon looked at each other.

"Well, I guess that works for me." Delta shrugged as Sheldon nodded. They had definitely done a lot that night and Delta could use some real sleep. Plus, Delta figured Entrenched was gonna wonder where she was if she stayed in Octo Canyon for much longer.

"All right, it's settled then." Marie put her hands on her hips, then to her chest—still recovering from the radio scare. "We've done more than enough here tonight. Let's head back, rest up, and I'll let you guys know when I need you next."

* * *

 **A/N: So I feel like I owe you folks a bit of an apology. For those of you who saw the original chapter and are wondering what happened-I deleted it. This is the rewrite. I was trying to keep this on the down-low so people wouldn't think there was a new chapter only to find out there was actually less, but FFNet decided to bump the story up to the top of the feed for everyone to see. So I apologize if I confused anyone-I didn't realize the site was written to account for every change instead of just new content.**

 **As for why I decided to rewrite-I wasn't happy with my first attempt ever since I hit submit. There were some really good moments in there (even a little hidden secret) but there were also spots that I really wasn't proud of. And because I've had a troubled history with writing, it's really important to me that I personally am satisfied with each update. I am each chapter's first critic, and I didn't feel like I did my job right for this one. At the time I had been working on Chapter 10 eight hours a day for three days straight (thanks, writing disabilities), plus the two weeks of off and on writing and the three weeks of design and development. At first I thought my dissatisfaction with the chapter was because I was too exhausted at the end, but as the week went on-my thoughts on how well I did didn't really improve.**

 **And when I realized I couldn't move forward with Chapter 11 without fixing at least a little bit of 10, I made the decision to take it down. It's still not quite where I want it to be, but at least it's better-and I know I took the time to do my best.**

 **So that's my rant of the day. Thanks for sticking with me through that confusion, I don't plan on making deleting chapters into a habit-this should just be a one-time thing.**

 **PS: MRE stands for Meal Ready to Eat, and Maj. Gen. stands for Major General.**


	12. Chapter 11

_Clam Blitz_. Delta thought as she rested her forehead against the wall. _Clam…splatting…Blitz_. How many TV stations did the city need to broadcast the exact same League match?

Delta let out a long sigh. She wouldn't have been so salty about it if the match hadn't been a rerun from earlier that morning. In fact, Delta must have watched that game three times already. She flipped over, resting her back against the wall as her TV showed the Inkbrush player zipping around and gathering clams for…the…fourth…time. Delta jabbed her thumb on the remote, changing the channel to the weather. Unsurprisingly, the weather forecast hadn't changed in the last twenty minutes.

Delta let out an irritated groan, switching her attention to her shellphone in a desperate plea for entertainment. Nothing new on social media. No new sponsor announcements on the Nationals page. The weather still hadn't changed. Delta didn't know what she was expecting, but nothing new on Callie's weblog.

Delta had to face it—she was bored.

She looked around the apartment. Delta had cleaned the place twice already. Kai and Adam were doing who knows what, and Dylan hadn't responded to Delta's texts. Delta refreshed her messages once again. Still nothing from Marie. Delta understood that the pop star had wanted to lay low, but it had been a while since Beaker's Depot—and Delta hadn't heard a peep out of Marie. And she didn't realize how much time working as Agent 4 took until she had a break. It was more than enough time to catch up on practices and errands, and after five days Delta had run out of things to do. Delta's shellphone started to ring, and she scrambled to answer.

"Hello?" Delta answered, mildly surprised the caller wasn't Marie. Still.

"Hey Delta." Dylan's voice replied. "Sup?"

"Uh…" Delta looked around her living room, then shrugged. "Nothing much."

"Nothing much, huh?" Dylan let out a nervous chuckle.

"…Yeah?" Delta replied slowly, confused. "What's up, Dylan?"

"Nothing, I uh…" Dylan paused. "If you aren't doing anything I was actually looking for someone to go to Wahoo World with, but you don't have to if—"

"Sounds great, I'll meet you there!" Delta was off like an Inkzooka.

* * *

Delta had practically bolted her way to Wahoo World, more than eager to have something to do. So it was no surprise she got there before Dylan.

Wahoo World looked vaguely like a weird, distended torture complex to a farm girl. Bright colors of pink, cerulean blue, and shining oak almost assaulted her eyes, making Delta regret not bringing a pair of shades. The place was packed with squids, jellyfish, crabs and all their hatchlings—and the noise was overwhelming. She had managed to find her way to the ticket booth and was fishing the money out of her pocket when Dylan caught up to her.

"Hey." Dylan jogged up to his friend, waving two passes in his hand. "Don't worry about it—I've got that covered." Dylan handed them to the ticketmaster, who punched two squid-shaped holes in each ticket.

"How'd you get those already?" Delta asked as they moved away from the entrance booth, still confused why her ticket needed two punches instead of one.

"I won them off someone at the Shoal a couple days ago." Dylan readjusted the backpack on his shoulder. "Didn't really get a good look at them, but they seemed glad to be rid of 'em."

"Huh." Delta started looking around the amusement park, waiting for Dylan to stow his backpack in the locker.

"So!" Dylan shut the door to his locker, turning around to face Delta. "What do you want to do first?"

"Uh…" Delta looked at the rides in the distance, with no idea where to start. She eventually raised her shoulders in an unsure shrug, voice trailing off in indecision.

"We'll start with the Death Drop!" Dylan started walking, leading Delta toward the center of the park. "I think you'd be a fan of that."

"Why…" Delta stammered, second guessing her decision to come to Wahoo World if Dylan was going to put her on something called 'Death Drop.' "…why exactly is that up my alley?"

"Oh, trust me." Dylan waved off Delta's hesitation. "You're gonna love it. Eventually."

"Right." Delta let out an unbelieving scoff as they got in line. "That makes me feel _so_ much better." She looked up, and the sight of the ride didn't make her feel much better.

The appropriately-named Death Drop was a giant steel spire, easily reaching over two hundred feet. A blue gondola was slowly descending to the bottom of the ride, preparing to unload its latest helping of shocked, nauseous, and/or adrenaline-pumped passengers. The unamused ride manager unhooked the gate to the Death Drop, ushering Delta and Dylan inside. They took their seats in the gondola, and the manager yanked the safety bar down in front of their seats. Delta looked at her seatbelt, and was about to say something to Dylan when the gondola lurched upwards. They rose and rose with each clack the steel cable made, inching their way up the enormous tower.

"Holy carp…" Delta made the mistake of looking down. "We're easily gonna be two hundred feet up."

"Two hundred and thirty, to be exact." Dylan replied to Delta's interior groan. The last thing she needed at some hundred feet in the air was for Dylan to go on a Sheldon rant. "We'll be in free fall for about two hundred feet."

"Not helping." Delta sent a pointed glare at her friend, then jumped at a loud bang from the cable. Hundred and seventy feet.

"Uh, okay then." Dylan nervously pulled at his tentacle bun. "But seriously, trust me on this. You're gonna love this ride. Just give it a chance." Delta felt like that chance was decreasing with every passing inch.

The gondola lurched to a stop at the top of the ride. Delta sucked in a breath, closing her eyes and waiting for the plummet.

"H-here we go…" Dylan did his best to hide the shiver in his voice.

Nothing happened.

Delta cracked an eye open, wondering what was taking so long. She looked around at the other passengers, their shoulders equally tense.

"Are we stuck?" Delta dared to ask, looking over at Dylan. Dylan opened his mouth to respond—

BANG.

Delta's weight was suddenly pulled from under her. The gondola shot downwards, and Delta could feel the ink rush to her head. A rushing roar filled her ears as the gondola flew down the cable, and she was breathless by the time the ride came to a halt.

"So!" Dylan had regained his composure by the time the gondola slowly reached the ground. "What'd you think?" Delta said nothing as the safety lifted off her, choosing to breathe over talking.

"That…" Delta finally spoke once they had left the ride. "Was… AWESOME!"

"Ha!" Dylan let out a relaxed laugh. "I knew you'd like it. See, I'm trustworthy."

"You're right, you're right." Delta happily conceded. "Holy carp, I hadn't felt anything like that since…" Delta's voice trailed off. She was about to liken it to the ink rails in the Octarian kettles, but cleared her throat instead.

"You wanna go again?" Dylan offered, holding his arm out for Delta to lead the way. Delta smiled widely, already knowing her answer.

They rode the Death Drop two more times, following up with the roller coaster and Ferris wheel—and Delta was having a blast with Dylan. It was just before sundown when the two looked around the park for more rides—only to realize they had ridden them all.

"So what do you wanna do now?" Delta asked, turning back around to face Dylan.

"You hungry?" Dylan opened his locker to grab his backpack. "I brought some food."

"Someone came prepared." Delta let out a happy smile, leaning on the wall behind him. "Sure."

"Great!" Dylan let out an excited sigh, leading Delta to a picnic table in Wahoo World's food court.

"Seanwiches?" Delta chuckled at Dylan's choice of food.

"I figured you wouldn't;t want me to be the one making the food." Dylan gave a shy smile as he passed Delta a Seanwich.

"That's true." Delta conceded, taking a bite out of the food. It tasted good. She couldn't tell what the meat was, but it was good. "You were one of the worst squids I've ever been partnered with in cooking class."

"You're never gonna let me get over that, are you?" Dylan put a hand to his forehead, sighing.

"Nope." Delta grinned back. "Not when you—"

"Oh, look." Dylan cleared his throat as he looked at his shellphone, eager to change the topic. "New sponsorships just got announced on the Nationals page."

"Wait, who got them?" Delta perked up, swallowing the Seanwich's bun.

"Forge signed Pygnation." Dylan read aloud. "And…looks like Inkline took TGO."

"TGO?" Delta echoed, brows furrowed in irritation. "Seriously? Why pick them over us? We're the ones who knocked them to loser's bracket!"

"Don't shoot the messenger." Dylan passed his shellphone to Delta, letting her see for herself. Dylan was speaking the truth, to Delta's disappointment.

"I was hoping for Inkline to pick us." Delta mumbled, leaning back and crossing her arms.

"Don't worry." Dylan reached out, then grabbed his shellphone back. "We're still in winner's. Someone's gonna want to sign us eventually."

"We're running out of companies to sponsor us." Delta mumbled.

"Well." Dylan put his Seanwich down. "We've gotten this far without one. I don't see why we need it at this point."

Delta looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

"I've got a good Brella." Dylan continued. "You've got a good Splattershot. And we can depend on the others to do what they do best too. We've gotten this far."

"Yeah." Delta agreed, uncrossing her arms. "You're right."

"And remember our match against TGO?" Dylan kept talking, seemingly forgetting his Seanwich. "The both of us got flanked and we got out of it?"

"They hardly even touched us then." Delta added. "And we made sure they didn't take back that turf. That was…a pretty one-sided match."

"Exactly!" Dylan let out a proud smile. "We make a good team. A real good one." Delta looked back at Dylan with a warm smile. He was right; he really had her back.

"That we do." Delta conceded. "That we do."

* * *

Marie slammed her door shut, letting out a long sigh. Work had already been a whirlwind, and she had only survived the morning. The radio show wanted new studying materials to cover for next week, she had even more concert requests to sift through, and Marie's manager had spent their morning meeting gently nudging Marie towards finding a new play to perform in. He knew it would have been a touchy subject since Marie had backed out of her most recent role, but at the same time he was right. She needed to do damage control before she looked flaky to other directors.

The haste of the morning had Marie escaping to her apartment for her lunch break. She put her things on the kitchen table and opened the fridge, gathering some deli together for a sandwich. Marie checked the clock. It was only noon, and she felt like she had a full day's work already behind her. Marie finished making her sandwich and took her lunch to the couch, opting to turn on the TV and see what Inkopolis News was up to. Off the Hook's broadcast was going swimmingly—the old filming crew had managed to pan the entire shot to the right, keeping the crazed fan banging on the glass out of live TV. Marie smirked, knowing it was probably the director Dan's call—she wondered how he was doing.

A creak from the door on her left made Marie snap her attention toward Callie's room. The detectives had since packed up their investigation, but had forgotten a tiny strand of caution tape in the doorway. Marie finished the last remnants of her sandwich and stood to inspect the door.

She stared at the doorknob for a good while, debating if she should go in or not.

Back when they were the Squid Sisters, their rooms were almost like revolving doors. Marie had spent just as much time in Callie's room as her own; lounging on the bed while browsing social media, chatting about anything and everything at all—they were sisterly bonding moments. But after they became more and more involved in their own careers, that tradition fell out of favor. Now Marie felt almost guilty for wanting to snoop.

Marie rubbed at the scar behind her right ear, thinking. When was the last time she had been in Callie's room? A month? Longer? Marie wanted to know what Callie had gotten herself into, but she hesitated—hand hovering above the doorknob. Part of her felt like she needed to know, as if knowing now would make up for not being there in Callie's time of need.

But at the same time… would knowing what was wrong change things at this point? Or would it just hurt, like at Callie's office? Marie bit at her lower lip, frozen in indecision. She eventually gave in to her half curiosity, half guilt and pushed the door open.

The door gave way with a soft creak, and Marie's fingers found the light switch on the wall. She flicked it on, and raised the slider on the switch—fully illuminating Callie's room for inspection.

Callie's bed was as Marie remembered it. Snug against the right wall, the full sized mattress was flanked by two modern nightstands. Marie ran a finger across the surface of the closest one, watching as it scratched a line across a thin layer of dust. Marie was right, Callie hadn't been staying at the apartment.

Another dead giveaway was the covers. The bed was made—for once—letting Marie admire the thick pink stripe near the top of the black sheets. Marie had almost matching sheets, save for a green stripe where Callie's pink was. They were nods at the Squid Sister outfits, something Marie found both poetic and comforting.

On the other side of the room was Callie's dresser, which had since been overtaken by her jewelry set. Silver crescent earrings had scattered themselves across the top of the dresser, dotted with the occasional gold variants. The adjacent wardrobe was ever so slightly ajar, and Marie pulled one of its doors open to look inside. The room's lighting fell on a clothes hangar in the corner, its outfit protected by a black cover. Marie could guess what it was, but unzipped the cover anyway. She cracked a knowing smile when three magenta lines shone back at her through the black glitter. It was good to see Callie take such care of her iconic outfit.

Marie closed the wardrobe and made her way to Callie's desk against the wall. She figured if there was anything to see in her cousin's room, it would be at the desk. Marie pulled Callie's personal laptop open, staring at its lock screen. After a moment of thought, Marie pressed her fingers against the keyboard, typing out "cafishburger3." She hit enter, and was greeted by Callie's bright desktop.

Marie's knowing smirk faltered into nostalgia as she noticed the background was a picture of the two of them in front of the Eiffel Tower. Had it really been three years since that tour? And even though the two had gone their separate ways, Callie still kept this picture of them as her desktop.

Marie shook off her pensive attitude and pulled up Callie's calendar, hoping her cousin had actually updated it for once. She was in luck; green, red and pink lines populated Callie's week. Marie let out a quiet sigh, not sure if she should be relieved or unsettled that Callie was stressed enough to put events into her calendar.

She quickly learned to be concerned, as Callie's personal calendar was booked even more than the one at her office. Notes like "work on email, memorize lines," were scribbled in between studio recordings and filming sessions. Even the afternoon spent with Marie at Arowana Mall was booked. Callie's work had her up until the early morning, and she would need to be up early to make her call time for filming. That wasn't enough time for sleep, at all. Marie peered closer, noticing that most of the problem was the amount of time Callie set aside for small tasks—memorizing lines was a consistent timesink. For some reason, she was having a problem getting it done.

But Marie hadn't the faintest idea of why that would be. Her cousin might not be the biggest fan of using her brain, but she wasn't dumb either. Callie should have been able to do this. Was she just overwhelmed? It wasn't a far fetched theory, given Callie's real schedule.

Marie caught sight of a white envelope sitting at Callie's desk, shaking her from her thoughts. Marie curiously picked it up, turning it over the read the writing on the front. To her surprise, "DON'T FORGET TO GIVE TO MARIE" was written in bright, green capitals. Marie's curiosity gave way to a knowing smirk. Callie must have meant to give this to her at Arowana Mall, but despite her best efforts—forgot it at home.

Marie slid her thumb across the seal, splitting the envelope open. She reached in and fished out an unremarkable thumb drive, finding nothing else inside. Curious, Marie went to retrieve her laptop, settling herself on Callie's bed. She plugged the drive in, finding only one file on the USB stick. It was an mp3, so Marie grabbed her headphones and opened the file in her music making software. The file opened without fuss and Marie hit play.

She…wasn't prepared for what she found. A steady rhythm beat in Marie's ear, followed by Callie's signature electronica. Marie didn't know where Callie was going with the tune…until Callie's vocals came in on the next bar. Marie froze as Callie's recorded voice sang her melody, and a thick lump formed in her throat. She put an unsteady hand to her mouth, and her other hand tightened her grip on Callie's covers, bunching them into a ball. Marie was entirely unprepared for the memories the fledgling of a song dragged to the surface. It was surprisingly far along for a new song, in fact Callie's side of songwriting was nearly complete—all that was missing was Marie's side. Given Callie's unhealthily packed schedule, Marie was shocked that her cousin had the time for such a side project. She directed her attention to the notes section at the bottom of the software, noticing Callie had written something:

"For whenever you're ready, awesome cousin. 3"

Marie let out a choked sob, and her vision blurred with tears. It was clear to her why Callie started work on this song—it was her petition to Marie to resurrect the Squid Sisters. Callie had wanted to write songs together again, and was squidnapped before she could propose the idea to Marie.

Marie wiped the tears from her eyes, looking back up at Callie's room. Her eyes found the Charizard beanbag chair Marie had gifted her cousin for her birthday. She found the Squid Squad poster hanging on Callie's magenta wall; Callie was happy to snag it when they landed seats at the rock band's concert. Marie hugged her shins, resting her forehead on her knees as she listened to the song. She missed Callie. She missed her cousin. She missed her cheery attitude, her chipper voice—carp, even her somewhat annoying clumsiness. Marie didn't budge for an hour, clinging onto the bittersweet solace Callie's recorded voice brought. It might just be a recording, but it was all Marie had.

It felt like an eternity later when Marie finally found the strength to pause the playback. Marie knew what Callie wanted her to do with the audio file—she wanted her to finish the song. Marie took a deep breath, settling in to finish what Callie started. Her next meeting started in five minutes, but Marie instead called ahead and told her own secretary to cancel the rest of her appointments for the day. The least she could do for her cousin was to set aside the time to give it her best.

She'd stop the world for this song.

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed the first (new) chapter of the year! Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, and followed thus far.**

 **This chapter's shorter than the usual, but it packs more of a punch and has some VERY important scenes. So I decided to keep things a little shorter this time around. This update actually finishes one of the subplots-fun fact. I'm starting to gear up for the finale. Can't tell how far away it is yet, but it's definitely time to start thinking about it.**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **~RisingPhoenix56**


	13. Chapter 12

Delta loved fighting in Turf Wars. She loved the rush of the sport, the zen yet indignant focus it delivered, the crucial responsibility of taking opposing turf and holding the ground for the team. She respected her teammates, and how they worked together as a surrogate family on the pseudo battlefield. She loved the competition, fighting against teams that gave them a run for their money and an ability to learn from.

She did _NOT_ like the attention that came with doing well in the tournament.

Competing while live-streamed was tough enough for Delta, but at least she had the heat of the match to distract herself with. It was hard to worry about being filmed when ink was flying at her face—and the same went for NSS missions. But now that Entrenched was doing well enough to catch the eyes of sports channels, the team had to sit for interview after interview. And Delta hated every second of it.

"Delta." The turf player nearly flinched at her name as Dylan stepped out of the recording room, green hoodie in hand. "Your turn."

"No." Delta pushed her head onto her forearms that were resting on the table. "Kai can go before me."

"Kai's already done his interview." Delta heard a quiet screech as Dylan pulled up the metal chair next to his friend. "You're the last one to go."

"All right…" Delta took a steadying sigh, but didn't move.

"Look, you got this." Dylan sat down in the chair. "It's really fast, really easy. All you gotta do is go in, answer a question or two, and say we're gonna crush Indigone."

"We're ready!" A tall, burly crab bellowed from the recording room—and Delta jerked her head up, startled.

"Knock 'em dead!" Kai cheered from across the table, without his helmet for once and his short tentacles glossed back in a thick mohawk. "Which we know you're good at!"

"Thanks, guys." Delta allowed a nervous smirk before pushing herself off her seat, boots trudging her way into the recording room.

Which, in Delta's eyes, was filled to the brim with elongated, nightmarish equipment. Frilled white canopies loomed over the turf player, who was quickly ushered to the wooden chair in front of a royal blue backdrop.

"Hello." Delta saw a hand extend to her. She looked up to find a tall, middle-aged Inkling settle into the chair opposite her. "I'm Cosmo, nice to meet you." Delta's ears picked out as she mumbled her own name. "Don't be nervous, we'll make this quick and painless." He looked over his shoulder, adjusting his tie. "Cameras ready to go?"

The jellyfish behind the camera closest to Delta suddenly elongated his legs, easily growing a solid three feet and pushing him up to the black machine's height. He gave a one-fingered thumbs up, settling himself back into his normal height.

"All right." Cosmo clapped his hands together as the umbrella lights powered on, nearly blinding Delta. "Let's begin. Delta, you're Entrenched's center fielder, right?"

Delta gave a sheepish nod.

"Your teammates credit you with being 'the beast' of the team." Cosmo continued, giving the timid guest an encouraging smile. "Do you want to tell us how you earned that nickname?"

"It's, uh…" Delta kneaded her hands in her lap. "It's…because I'm really aggressive in the match?"

"I don't think that needs to be a question." The sports anchor let out a small chuckle, then regained his professionalism. "My stats here say your record was eighteen splats in a single turf match. And these are against the nation's best, mind you." Delta gave an embarrassed smile, looking down at her hands. They were shaking.

"In fact…" Cosmo continued, rummaging through the papers a director handed him. "…that's exactly equal to returning champion Alyssa, from team Indigone. Word from the kelp vine says that the two of you have quite the rivalry going on."

"Maybe?" Delta squeaked, caught off guard by the unexpected question.

"I think the fact that a heated argument almost came to blows last week means more than a maybe." Cosmo gave another encouraging smile. "Entrenched is set to play against Indigone in a couple days in the quarter finals, are you confident you'll settle the score then?"

"Y-yeah." Delta stammered out her response, then her eyes widened as she remembered Dylan's words. "We're gonna crush them!"

"That's the confidence we like to hear!" Cosmo cheered, then turned to the camera. "Tune in to SquidForce's coverage on channel to find out how the highly anticipated match will end. Who will emerge victorious, the returning champions Indigone or the brash, up and coming name Entrenched?" The umbrella lights finally cut out, leaving dull floaters in Delta's vision.

"Good job." Cosmo offered one last handshake. "You're free to go now—thank you for your time." Delta managed a quick thank you before nearly barreling out the door of the recording room and into the whoops and cheers of the rest of Entrenched.

"Great job!" Dylan clapped Delta on the back. "See, it wasn't that hard." Delta was about to respond when she heard a buzz from her camo hoodie hung on her chair.

"All right, now that the press stuff is over," Kai said as Delta pulled her shellphone from her pocket. "We need to spend the afternoon training. Two days are gonna come up fast, and we are NOT losing against Indigone." Delta unlocked her shellphone to read the recent text message:

" _7 tonight, we're back on._

 _-2_ "

"Can we be done by six-thirty?" Delta asked, stowing her shellphone before one of the boys could snoop. "I have a thing at seven."

"A thing?" Dylan echoed, brows furrowed. "What's your thing?"

"I'm meeting with someone." Delta calmly replied, grabbing the hoodie off the chair and hanging it over her arm.

"Who—"

"Eh, six-thirty's fine." Kai interrupted with a nonchalant shrug. "That's more than enough time to practice. Plus, it'll be curfew soon after that."

"Oh carp, I forgot that was starting today." Dylan ran a hand through his tentacles, stopping before the bun. "Everything shuts down at nine, right? No more sleepless city anymore, I guess."

"How much backup energy is left?" Delta casually asked, taking care to keep her face neutral to hide her investment in the topic.

"I think we have less than a third of what we stored left." Kai pulled the door open, letting his teammates onto the neon streets of Inkopolis. "So if that Zapfish doesn't come back soon, the city's gonna have to shut down."

"How soon?" Delta cleared her throat.

"Five days, I'd say?" Dylan shrugged his shoulders in a guess. "Could be more, could be less. It's cutting close to the grand finals, that's for sure."

"Right." Delta muttered as she remembered Marie's words back when she first joined the rescue mission. An Octarian invasion would arrive with the blackout, and even though Delta had been hard at work thinning Octavio's numbers—there was still a massive force marching back from Octo Valley. They might have been delayed, but they would reach Octo Canyon eventually. Delta was about to follow the others out the building when her shellphone buzzed a second time. She pulled it back out to find another message:

" _And please for the love of cod show up in something other than camo. I almost mistook you for a bush Super Jumping back to the city last time_ "

Delta let out a disbelieving scoff, but it soon turned to a defeated sigh as she looked down at her camo hoodie. She was gonna have to change first.

* * *

After losing the hoodie, Delta made her way to the manhole—taking care to use the alley behind Ammo Knights to avoid suspicion. Delta was halfway out of the manhole in Tentakeel Outpost when Sheldon nearly descended on her.

"Ah, carp." Sheldon grumbled as he turned to fiddle with the power cables lying in front of Cuttlefish Cabin.

"Nice to see you too, Sheldon." Delta pulled herself out of the grate. "Why the grumpiness?"

"Marie and I made a bet this afternoon." Sheldon turned back to take a second look at Agent 4. "If you showed up in camo, I could take full control of Marie's Squitter for a day. If you didn't, I'd have to clean the Zapfish tank."

"Looks like I won." Marie tsked at Sheldon as she came out of Cuttlefish Cabin, grabbing an empty plate off the bench in front of Cuttlefish Cabin.

"Hold up," Delta piped up, putting the pieces together. "Marie cheated. She told me not to wear camo tonight." Sheldon whipped his head toward the pop star, his horseshoe tail nearly slicing the cloth logo arched over the Cabin.

"I didn't cheat." Marie held her hands up in defense, fangs glistening in a mischievous smirk. "You didn't say anything about not talking to Delta."

"I thought that was self-explanatory!" Sheldon huffed, exasperated. "That's not fair!"

"It's fair." Marie patted Sheldon's shell. "Because I outrank you, and I say it's fair. Now go clean the tank, that's an order."

"I think I'm gonna weld a blue falcon trophy while I'm at it." Sheldon muttered as he walked back inside Cuttlefish Cabin.

"Not giving you my Squitter," Marie called after him. "I have a reputation to protect."

"So we ended up waiting six days?" Delta asked, folding her palms under her armpits. "What was going on? What was the holdup?"

"I wanted to make sure it was a good, long, awkward time." Marie turned back to face Delta. "Make it clear that we weren't falling for their ambush at Slimeskin, and have their officers second guess their strategy."

"And that's how you're pulling forces away from Slimeskin?" Delta asked, slightly confused. "You're waiting for them to just…leave?"

"No, it's more complicated than that." Marie scoffed Delta's question off. "I was waiting for the seed of doubt in their minds to start growing into something bigger. If you look at all the troops we splatted over the three sectors we've attacked, they add up to a substantial reduction in Octavio's numbers. After our wipeout of Beaker's Depot, we made them pretty nervous. Octavio simply doesn't have the cephalopower he used to, not to mention the energy required to power his military. He now needs to be more judicious about where he places his troops. When an enemy's nervous, he's easy to unsettle further. All you have to do is throw something unexplained at him."

"So where are we attacking first to divert his attention to?" Delta couldn't think of many other places to strike, aside from Cephalon HQ itself—and she didn't need Marie to tell her that was still a mistake.

"Oh, we're not diverting at all." Marie quickly clarified. "Not at all, we've done that three times already—they expect that out of us at this point. You're just gonna walk into Slimeskin Garrison and blow squit up."

"…What?" Delta couldn't have heard that right.

"Yeah, go nuts." Marie shrugged Delta's shock off. "We've been using stealth this whole time, so that's what the Octarians expect out of us at this point. So the Octarian troops have been keeping their eyes peeled for the slightest hints of an attack, thinking an attack might come at any minute…for six days now. They're pretty keyed up by now, to the point where even a tap on the shoulder would make 'em jump like Judd freaking over a cucumber."

"So a direct, loud, aggressive assault would seem overwhelming to them." Delta surmised. "But then what's stopping troops from reinforcing from Cephalon HQ?"

"That won't happen." Marie's purple hairclip shook in the wind as she shook her head. "Because we told them not to."

Delta didn't make a sound this time, opting to leave her jaw hanging in confusion.

"You might have spent the past six days on a break." Marie re-folded her kimono, wrapping the black cloth around her torso. "But Sheldon and I didn't. Remember the intel you grabbed off that Tentakook last sector?" Marie pulled the purple-stamped parchment from her kimono's inside pocket. "Now that we know what a legitimate correspondence looks like, we can send fake ones. Sheldon and I spent those six days feeding fake intel and misinformation to Octarian commanders."

"You're…sure they bought it?" Delta asked, unsure. Marie sounded like she put a lot of faith in what sounded like a risky assumption.

"Oh, I'm sure." Marie replied. "Sheldon is a fantastic salescrab. He would write the text as convincingly as possible while I was out rounding up as many Tentakook messengers as I could. I'd bring them back, translate Sheldon's text, put the right formatting on it, and send it out on the Tentakooks."

"What did you say?" Delta asked.

"We posed as Octarian intelligence officers." Marie stowed the general's original message back under the black kimono. "Who had heard over radio chatter that an attack on Slimeskin Garrison—no matter how big—was a diversion, meant to pull troops away from Cephalon HQ. The real attack would be a surprise against the weakened headquarters itself."

"That's what I thought we were gonna do." Delta commented, dragging her sneaker on the ground. No, she had not stepped in goose poop.

"Exactly," Marie replied. "That's part of the point—it makes it all the more believable. Plus given his shortened cephalopower and his mounting energy crisis we've given him, Octavio can't jeopardize Cephalon HQ in any way, shape or form. He's gonna err on the side of caution and keep his troops in HQ. If he had to pick between Slimeskin Garrison or Cephalon HQ, he'd sacrifice Slimeskin any day of the week."

"So when we hit the Garrison," Delta summed. "He'll think it's the diversion and keep his troops in Cephalon HQ to defend against what he thinks is a surprise attack. But in actuality the surprise is that the battle at Slimeskin is the real attack."

"Exactly." Marie broke into a proud smile. "So—you ready to make our 'diversion?'"

* * *

Slimeskin Garrison—true to its name—was a twisty mess of obstacles to navigate. The entire compound was a confidence course, complete with wall climbs and trampolines for distance jumps.

"This place looks almost fun." Sheldon commented as Delta carefully stepped down a ramp with mountain climbing footholds.

"I guess this is how they do their physical training." Marie added, a hint of approval leaking through her tone. "Gotta stay in shape to get around here."

"You guys see that in the distance?" Delta pointed at a tin dot near the edge of the Canyon, and she climbed to the other side of the sprawled-out Garrison for a closer look.

"That looks like a good reason for us to work quickly." Marie answered over the radio. "It's a homing missile; they're moving it to get ready for an attack on Inkopolis as soon as the main force gets here."

"OH!" Sheldon's voice perked up at the mention of "missile." "They have homing missiles? THAT'S SO COOL! I wonder how they work!"

"Sheldon, don't." Marie quickly tried to bring him under control. "If we find out how they blow things up, that means they've blown us up."

"You mean I get to see it up close?" Sheldon sounded even more excited. "I can't wait!"

"Oh my cod." Marie muttered over the radio as Delta jumped her way back to the center of Slimeskin Garrison, catching sight of a sign with the picture of a crossed out squid, its mantle pointing towards a shining dot the sickly purple lake. "Give me a reason not to make you thankful you were born with a hard hat."

"Guys." Delta interjected, looking down to find more stickers of Inklings on the ground. "Where's the Octoling kettle?"

"To be honest," Marie began, back on track with the mission. "I think we should try to avoid it this time around. In a place like this, the Octolings are probably the most reinforced unit we'd face here. Let's try to isolate them instead."

"Any ideas?" Delta asked, noticing the line of stickers almost…looked like a trail? She absently followed the line of tiny squids, waiting for a response.

"Well…" Sheldon began. "Theoretically speaking, if we could find their server room, we could shut the power off to their kettle. That way we could basically trap them inside their dome. No fighting necessary—plus we can use the same console to disable communications."

"We've never seen anything like a server room before." Marie replied as Delta inked a wall, climbing it to follow the trail. "We don't know what to look for. And it's not like we can cut the power to the whole place, because we need the rest of the kettles to rescue the Zapfish."

"I can figure out how to cut service off to a specific kettle." Sheldon answered as Delta stopped in her tracks. "That's not the problem. Delta just needs to drop into the right kettle for me to find the console."

"So how are we gonna—"

"I think I found it." Delta pointed at a newly discovered kettle, labeled with a large, white power plug next to it.

"Oh, yeah that's totally it." Sheldon replied, astonished. "Yeah, just label everything for the invaders, huh? That's the equivalent of taping your password to your monitor."

"I'm betting twenty coins someone still asks where it is." Marie said, and Delta could almost see her smirk.

"Nuh-uh." Sheldon disagreed as Delta slipped through the kettle's grate. "I've learned not to take a bet with you, Marie."

* * *

This was no ordinary kettle—Delta knew that from the moment she surfaced out of the spawn point. At first she thought the lights were out, but a bright gleam from the kettle's roof told her otherwise. As Agent 4 raised a hand to shield her eyes from the harsh glare, she noticed the kettle's background monitors had abandoned their sunny blue in favor of a starlit night. The ground was a plastery, concrete white rather than the usual brick.

"Whoa, look u—" Delta briefly heard Sheldon's voice before it was drowned with static. Agent 4 held a hand up to her headphones as she looked around, trying to re-establish the radio connection. As Delta tried to fiddle with her audio, she noticed a distracting, tense beat bleed through the static. A shimmering synth swam through her ears, and Delta could swear she heard a faint voice singing with the drums. Sheldon was right—there was some sort of music in the kettles.

"—you hear me?" Delta's head perked up as her ears picked out Marie's voice.

"Hello?" Delta held her hand back up to the headphones.

"And she's back!" Sheldon let out a whoop. "Sorry about that, the totally epic debris field above you was causing interference."

"Are you sure you fixed it?" Delta asked as she looked up, listening to the music's desperate movement. Sheldon was right, there was a massive debris field of rocks and satellite dishes floating above her.

"The signal's as good as we can get it." Marie's voice answered, albeit grainy. "What you're hearing is the kettle's own radio channel. Looks like they're broadcasting Turquoise October."

"Turquoise October?" Delta echoed, hopping down to the platform below and making short work of three Octocopters.

"They're an Octarian band." Marie replied. "We don't know much about them, other than that they seem to be popular. We've heard them in almost every single kettle."

"Huh." Delta stopped to check her Hero Shot's magazine before stepping into the launch pad. "Sheldon, where does your thingy say the power thing is?"

"Description's really your strong suit." Marie snickered, but didn't pick up on Delta's glare.

"Uh…" Delta could hear a clacking sound as Sheldon's fingers typed away on a keyboard. "It's not too far ahead, looks like it's actually just past the jump pad."

"Be careful." Marie cautioned. "It's probably heavily guarded."

"Understood." Delta re-inserted the Hero Shot's clip, then sprang out of the launch pad.

Marie turned out to be right—Delta's black boots had hardly touched the landing pad before she ducked back into the yellow ink, narrowly avoiding the laser sights from enemy snipers.

"Holy carp…" Sheldon breathed as two lasers scanned the air where Delta's chest would have been two moments ago. "That was…so close."

"I see a third one just past those sandbags." Marie added, her voice low and solemn. "That means three Octosnipers on perch surveillance. They've got this whole area covered."

"So basically," Delta whispered under her yellow cover. "If I move, I die."

"Yeah pretty much." Sheldon affirmed. "Good luck!"

"Thanks." Delta spared a sarcastic smirk as she slowly inched her way to the edge of the yellow ink ahead of her.

"The closest one is on that perch ahead of you." Marie's pointed out as Delta caught sight of a red tentacle poking over the concrete cliff. "Do you think you can sneak your way over and splat them quietly?"

"No chance." Delta whispered back as she stopped next to the sandbag, poking her squid's mantle out of cover to check on the other sniper to her left. It hadn't spotted her yet, still scanning for threats. "I'd have to ink that wall to climb it, and the others would see me." Delta stole another look at the Octosniper to her left, an idea creeping into her head. She knew Marie wouldn't be a fan, but…Marie technically gave the go ahead to "go nuts."

It wasn't like they were going to get anywhere by playing it safe, anyway.

Delta sprang out of cover, ignoring the red dot on her jacket and shooting a yellow line up the concrete.

"What are you doing?!" Marie nearly hissed as Delta leapt forward, narrowly missing the sniper's shot.

"They can't snipe if they're splatted." Delta grunted as her squid form scaled the wall. The Octosniper sputtered out a surprised gurgle, legs flailing as it tried to wheel its chair around to face Delta. It didn't get to finish—four shots from the Hero Shot made the overgrown tentacle explode. Delta wasted no time in speeding through the yellow ink, her sights only on the second Octosniper straight ahead.

"Get down!" Delta dove for the nearest sandbag at Marie's command, watching as a shot of purple ink gushed past where Agent 4 would have been.

"If you're gonna do this," Marie let out an exasperated pant. "It's about timing. Takes about a second for a charger's chamber to pressurize, then another to aim." Delta gave a determined nod. Two seconds was a long time in combat—she could work with that.

Delta leapt back out of cover, swerving out of the second Octosniper's range and charging up to the third on the right. Agent 4 was safely under the Octosniper's perch when the charger was ready to fire, letting only a few purple droplets fall onto Delta's black armor. She climbed the wall, splatting the Octosniper with a stream of yellow. Delta was about to turn around to chase down the third Octosniper, when the vacant chair caught her eye.

Agent 4 hopped onto the overturned bucket, wresting control of the makeshift Bamboozler and aiming the laser pointer at the last Octosniper. She clicked the trigger, surprised to see only a small trickle from the charger's muzzle.

"Hold it." Delta could almost hear Marie's facepalm as Sheldon burst out laughing. "You're supposed to hold…the stupid…"

"…Shut up." Delta let out an embarrassed cough, holding the trigger to pressurize the chamber. She aimed the laser pointer at the immobile Octosniper, waiting for the sharp ping to signal the charger was ready to fire. Delta's finger jumped off the trigger, sending a shot of yellow at the Octosniper—but not before the enemy fired back.

"Carp!" Delta dropped her torso in a duck, watching as a line of purple sailed above her. She hesitantly straightened back out after it whizzed past. "That was close."

"Now that _that_ heart attack is over with," Marie let out a steadying breath over the radio. "Sheldon, you're up."

"Uh," Sheldon was back to clacking away at his keyboard. "The console should be right below where that last fella was."

"What am I doing with it?" Delta asked as she swam over, her squid form flopping down from the sniper's perch. Her mantle plopped onto steel beams, and she shifted back to find a long, white console hidden underneath the kettle's walkways.

"You're doing two things." Marie explained. "First you're shutting off comms, just like in the last kettles. Then you're shutting off power to the Octoling's jump pad."

"Uh-huh." Delta stared at the inordinate amount of blue switches on the console. There had to be hundreds of them, neatly lined up in rows of twenty and reaching down to the bottom of the hardware. "Sheldon, please tell me you know how to do that."

"But of course I do!" Sheldon cheered. "It's easy—first you have to start with the sixth switch from the right, then press the twenty-fifth on the left, after that hold the eighty-ninth down for exactly twelve seconds and then we're one sixteenth of the way there…"

Delta did not get this on her first try.

* * *

She also didn't get it on her third. Or fourth. Delta was ready to smash the whole console when she finally flipped the last switch and heard the proper click.

"Thank cod." Marie let out a relieved sigh. "I thought we were gonna be there forever."

"Let's see…" Sheldon typed away at his laptop. "Yep, that did it! The Octoling kettle is conveniently unpowered."

"Can we finally move on now?" Delta was more than ready to never look at a blue switch again in her life.

"Ah, before you go," Sheldon's voice interjected over the radio. "Wait up for your reward." Delta looked up to find Sheldon's drone carrying a familiar black suitcase, dropping it at Agent 4's feet.

"Thanks." Delta pulled the black helmet over her pyramidal headphones, activating Sheldon's armor. Delta Super Jumped back to the last checkpoint, leaping back to the last area's jump pad. She found it behind one of the Octosniper's perches, and jumped away.

Delta's next landing wasn't in a firing lane this time. She plopped onto a short walkway, terminating in a thin ramp. Delta raised her Hero Shot, scanning for any further threats. There were none—just nothing but the same nebulous song on repeat, over and over.

"That's interesting…" Sheldon's voice popped over the crackling radio as Delta stepped on the ramp, looking down over the floating rectangle below. "That platform moves along a magnetic iron line using superconductive antigravity! I wonder if they—"

"You can see the Zapfish at the end of the track." Marie quickly interrupted, preventing a mass rant out of Sheldon. "Looks like you're supposed to ride the platform to grab it, so—actually…stay here a moment."

"What's up?" Delta stopped at the top of the incline, looking at the starry dome as she waited for Marie's response.

"Bah, it's nothing." Marie dismissed her agent's concern after a moment. "Stupid thing to hold you up for, really—I was just looking at the stars. Callie and I used to sit outside and count them when we were kids." Delta's heartstrings tugged at Marie's comment as she jumped onto the rectangular platform, listening to the chime as the platform began to inch its way toward the Zapfish.

"We'll get her back." Delta offered her best attempt at consoling words, not really sure what else to say in the situation. The distorted singer's voice seeped back into the radio, seemingly out of place with the rest of the instrumentation.

And Agent 4 didn't get a chance to think about what else to add, because an unexpected landing vibrated through the ground. Delta whipped around to find an Octoling staring her down from the opposite side of the platform, Octo Shot in hand.

"They always have to show up at the most inconvenient times, don't they?" Marie grumbled as Delta raised her own Hero Shot, ready to fire.

"You told me not to wait for bullets to dodge." The Octoling's shades didn't budge as she spoke, but Delta still recognized her. Ayla. "So I came to you instead. You will steal no more Zapfish."

"Who's stealing from who?" Delta argued, watching an eyebrow raise over the red dot on Ayla's shades.

"No farther." Delta heard the safety click off of Ayla's Octo Shot as the platform inched along its pathway. That was her cue; Delta fired her Hero Shot at the shrunken sponge between them—expanding it into a yellow block of cover. Delta slammed her shoulder into the sponge, doing her best to protect herself from Ayla as she inked the ground for more cover.

It wasn't long at all until Delta felt the sponge start to tremble and shrink under Ayla's purple shots. Agent 4 morphed into a squid and slipped into her newly inked cover, swimming on the floor to stay out of sight. Ayla strafed around the left side of the sponge, her Octo Shot spraying purple ink across Delta's yellow in an attempt to smoke the agent out.

Ayla unknowingly stepped past Delta's squid form, and the Inkling sprang out of cover—hoping to land a melee hit and end things quickly. Ayla reacted quickly, and Delta felt an elbow connect with her helmet. Her head met the floor, and Delta instinctively kicked her legs at her attacker. They pushed Ayla back, giving Delta half a second to stand up. Agent 4 recovered her Hero Shot first, and landed three hits to Ayla's shoulder before the Octoling ran for cover behind the sponge.

"Heads up!" Marie barked over the radio. Delta spared an upwards glance to find two Octotroopers floating down from above. She quickly tossed a splat bomb at the sponge, suppressing Ayla's counter fire and giving her time to take out one of the Octotroopers before they landed.

Delta had managed to splat the second a heartbeat before Ayla stepped out from behind the sponge. She aimed her Hero Shot to fire first, but the dreaded click from its chamber meant her tank was empty. Ayla's aim hit true, and Delta had lost Sheldon's armor by the time she could put the sponge between them. Delta tried hiding in her ink to regenerate, but Ayla tagged her with another hit. Her cover blown, Delta tried rushing in for a desperate tackle, but Ayla was prepared to defend. Another pistol whip knocked Delta to the ground, and this time the Octoling managed to pin Delta down.

Delta was on her back, staring up at her attacker's wide smile. She'd seen that grin on other sparring opponents before—Ayla was proud of herself.

"You are done." Ayla spoke in her thick accent as the platform lurched to a stop, and Agent 4 spared a sideways glance to the left. They were on the edge of the platform, just a few inches away from the metal crosshatching on the Zapfish's platform. The Octoling aimed her Octo Shot at Delta, making sure to keep a hold on Agent 4's shoulder to keep her from squirreling away.

But Delta didn't need her shoulder. She pulled Ayla's elbow into her core, causing the shot to sail past Delta's head. She wrapped her left leg around Ayla's and kicked off the ground with her right, rolling Ayla to the left and pinning the Octoling against the empty grate.

"You celebrate too early." Delta twisted the Octo Shot from the startled scout and leaving the Octoling with no means of escape. She didn't give Ayla a chance to counter, swiftly splatting the scout with a few hits from the Hero Shot and sent her back to Cephalon HQ. Delta was about to stand when she heard something clatter to the ground. She bent down to pick it up, turning the scratched CD over in her hand.

"Take that with you." Marie was back over the radio. "Looks interesting. Sheldon can look into it when you get back."

"Understood." Delta broke the Zapfish's tank and whisked it back to Cuttlefish Cabin.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, followed, favorited, and read so far! This update's about two weeks late (sorry about the longer wait), mainly because it was significantly harder than I anticipated. This particular chapter puts a lot of its goodies into subtext, and it took way more than just one try to make it all work together on the page. There's also more banter this time, which is always fun to write.**

 **I write with a lot of assistive technology, and I noticed there was a reduction in word count when the document processed over to Word. I reread through the whole chapter and it looks like everything made the transfer, but if you see something that looks like it's missing a transition let me know-and I'll sort it out. Technology sometimes, argh.**

 **A couple clarifying things:**

 **Squitter= Twitter**

 **A blue falcon is a military/police term, used to describe someone who has utterly screwed another over-usually into more PT sessions or added chores. Some branches have a blue falcon trophy that is jokingly awarded to the prankster.**

 **Hope you enjoyed the new chapter!**


	14. Chapter 13

Delta twisted her torso to the side, narrowly dodging the stripe of purple ink from the Octoweapon's charger. She pressed her back against the platform's cover, holding down the splatling's trigger and watching its barrels turn as the weapon built up a charge.

"Really wish you guys let me have the charger instead…" Delta pivoted out of cover the moment she heard the splatling ding, aiming the torrent of emerald at the three Octocopters holding the Octoweapon airborne.

"Not with your performance earlier." Sheldon replied as Delta heard a sharp pop, signaling an Octocopter was down.

"Yeah, let's uh…" Marie let out an awkward cough as Delta splatted a second Octocopter, leaving one left hold the Octoweapon's chains. "Let's not have a repeat of the Octosniper's charger."

Delta didn't have time for a rebuttal since the Octo Shower ejected a stream of ink from its underside, using its last Octocopter to charge at Delta's position. Agent 4 leapt off the central platform, using the last of the splatling's charge to ink a landing zone to splash into. Delta was about to poke her mantle out of the emerald when a few stray shots of purple whizzed overhead.

"Is…that a hand crank?" Sheldon audibly cringed as Delta looked to her left, watching the weaponized shower crank its ammo at her with newly appeared arms, complete with sanitation gloves.

"If Delta gets hit by it," Marie added as Delta emerged from the ink, charging the Hero Splatling as she ran toward the raised platform to her right. "We're never letting her live it down."

Delta rolled her eyes, morphing into a squid to ride the dash track into midair. The Octocopter's green eyes bulged at Delta, who morphed back into kid form and released the trigger—splatting the last Octocopter. The Octoweapon's black, circular body crashed to the ground with a metallic moan—its tentacle sprouting from the Octoweapon's purple shingled roof. Delta landed two yards away from the Octo Shower, and wasted no time in aiming the last of the splatling's charge at the bright green X on the tentacle. The pulsating flesh burst open, spraying a few dots of purple across Agent 4's face.

"Last round," Marie spoke over the radio as four Octocopters buzzed their way into the arena, circling around the Octoweapon to screw their chains into its now gaping hole. "Then we can finally get out of here. You got this, Agent 4."

Exhaust steamed from side vents as the Octoweapon's LED eyes flashed red, its purple roof shuddering as the giant machine was hoisted back into the air. The Octo Shower gave a final toot before tilting to the side, ejecting a steel missile aimed straight towards Agent 4.

"Ugh." Marie groaned as Delta turned back towards the dash track, this time landing on the platform to avoid the missile. "Of course. I always wanted my shower head to shoot missiles."

"Those aren't just any missiles!" Sheldon almost cried in excitement. "Those are the latest generation of air seekers! They have the latest AI with adjustable thrusters and thermal navigation, not to mention its concealed shrapnel compart—"

"Can you cut to the point, Sheldon?" Delta had turned back to look at the missile, only to watch it turn around and propel itself back towards her. She had just enough time to dive behind one of the fortifications before the missile crashed into the parapet, exploding into a flurry of twisted metal.

"...They're homing missiles." Sheldon muttered, dejected.

"Well, I'm glad the timing of _that_ information was useful." Marie smirked over the radio, but her playful quip was cut short as the Octo Shower tilted to the side once more.

"Heads up!" Marie was quick to give her warning, but Delta had already hopped onto the ground when the second missile launched itself into the air. She looked at her right to find two bright, flaming eyes charge towards her, closing half the distance in a matter of a few seconds. Delta sprinted away, listening to the screech of the thruster as it malfunctioned—giving her time to get a lead ahead of the missile.

Delta kept running until she heard a bang from behind her, signaling the coast was clear. Something smacked into her leg, nearly causing her to stumble. She straightened herself out in time to hear the familiar wail of a Stingray. Sure enough, a beam of purple ink cut through the central platform, bearing down on Delta's position. She slipped into newly inked emerald to avoid the special, mildly surprised to hear the ding as her yellow jacket's armor came back online. Since when was she without it?

"It's got a Stingray too?" Sheldon exclaimed over the radio as Delta climbed out of her hiding place, hobbling her way towards the central platform.

"I'll never understand why a shower head needs to be packing so much heat." Marie let out a long, defeated sigh.

"Pretty sure it's safe to say," Agent 4 began, firing a flurry of emerald shots at two unsuspecting Octocopters. "That every Octoweapon we've come across has destroyed your faith in Octarian logic."

"It was lost long ago when an oven popped out of a puddle of ink and started to attack us." Marie rebutted as the final two Octocopters exploded out of existence. The Octo Shower gave one final screech before plummeting to the ground, and Delta readjusted her aim to shoot the wriggling tentacle. The last of the splatling's charge was enough to destroy the tender tentacle, and Delta pressed her back against one of the platform's fortifications. She anticipated the explosion this time, and only had to watch as a burst of emerald sailed past her cover.

"All right." Marie let out a sigh of satisfaction over Sheldon's mildly disappointed huff. "I think you can finally head back after picking up that Zapfish."

Delta didn't have the energy to respond, instead she wasted no time in diving off the platform to reach the caged Zapfish. She heaved herself out of the emerald ink to find the baby Zapfish staring back at her with wide, horrified eyes. Agent 4 fired a few shots to break the cage's barrier, not finding the motivation to figure out the Zapfish's puzzled mood. Delta instantly Super Jumped back to Tentakeel Outpost, more than ready to relax.

She was so, so tired.

* * *

Delta landed with a drunken stumble, nearly collapsing onto Tentakeel Outpost's white pavement. The Zapfish flinched in her arms, and she brushed her hand against the side of her right thigh to wipe the dirt off. After making it inside Cuttlefish Cabin, Delta slid down the hatch and made her way toward its central chamber.

"There you are." Marie greeted from the kitchen table as Delta nudged the Zapfish towards the tank with the others. "I was wondering when—" Delta looked toward her mentor to find her usual smirk had faded into shock, and Marie quickly stood from her chair to rush towards Delta. A brief sensation of confusion passed over Delta's consciousness, and her senses finally pointed out something wet trickling down her calf. Delta looked down at the hand she had used to wipe against her leg before, only to find it covered in cobalt blue.

Delta spared a proper look at her leg to find a jagged piece of steel protruding from the side of her knee, her flesh bleeding blue ink down to the floor and even seeping into her Hero Boots.

Delta's weight gave out from under her as the room spun, until Marie caught her from behind. Her nerves finally kicked in as the knee bent to the new position, triggering an onslaught of sharp pain digging into her leg. Delta's ears rang with a high-pitched screech, leaving her to numbly wonder how the carp the metal even got there.

"Sheldon!" Delta vaguely registered Marie's call for help. The blurry horseshoe crab appeared in the doorway to his workstation, but quickly hurried over once he realized the situation. Sheldon gingerly scooped up Delta's ankles as gently as he could, but no amount of care would have stopped the pain from screaming even more—and Delta instinctively gritted her teeth into a pained growl.

Marie and Sheldon carried the wounded agent to the bunk room, gently lowering her onto one of the lower bunk beds. Delta vaguely heard someone say "get the med kit" and Sheldon disappeared as Marie pulled a pillowcase from the top bunk, ripping it at the seams. Delta couldn't remember what happened next since her vision had suddenly blurred, head spinning even more.

"Hey, hey!" Delta detected fingers snapping in front of her as her vision focused back to Marie, who then moved her hand to Agent 4's shoulder. "Stay with me, okay?" Delta managed a weak nod as Marie turned her attention back to the injury, twisting the shredded pillowcase into a rope. She wrapped it just above the knee, tightening and tightening the cloth until Delta felt a squeeze in her thigh. Marie tied the tourniquet with a quick snap of her wrists, turning her attention toward the wound itself.

Delta's head had started to clear when Sheldon returned with the med kit. Marie was quick to open it, grabbing a pair of latex gloves and laying out an array of tweezers. Agent 4 nudged her head to the right to find Sheldon awkwardly standing behind the senior agent, unsure of how to help.

"How bad is it?" Delta managed to speak, lifting her head ever so slightly to look at Marie.

"I can't tell until I get that metal out." Marie turned back to look at Agent 4, her shellphone's flashlight in one hand and a magnifying glass in the other. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah, I guess." Delta dropped her head back onto the pillow, brows furrowed as her brain started to comprehend the situation.

"Good, that means the tourniquet is working." Marie turned her attention back to the metal piece stuck in Delta's leg. "I think I can pull this out. It looks like it's halfway out already, maybe I can just…" Delta hissed as she felt a sharp tug.

"Got it." Marie held up the half-bloodied metal shard with her tweezers before setting it down on a nearby napkin. "Sorry, I would have given you some painkiller but I needed to move quickly. That tourniquet might have slowed the bleeding down, but right now it's the only thing between you and ink loss. I want to stop the bleeding entirely and that metal was in my way."

"Can I have some now?" Delta mumbled. If anything, the faded dizziness had left the injured agent with even more pain.

"Yeah, of course." Delta heard Marie rummage through the med kit. "Sheldon, can you go grab a towel? Any towel will do." Sheldon disappeared again as Delta felt a small sting in her thigh.

"Pulling the metal out was easy, luckily." Marie kept talking, likely to keep Delta distracted from the administration of the painkiller. "If it wasn't practically falling out already I'd have needed to grab a surgeon to do it."

"It looks like the shrapnel came from one of the missiles." Sheldon peered over the napkin, passing Marie a hand towel.

"Yeah it probably happened when that missile exploded behind you." Marie bunched the towel against Delta's injury, pressing it against her knee. "And then it took you a while to notice because you have a thing for adrenaline."

"I do not…" Delta couldn't help but smirk at Marie's attempt to break the tension in the room. "I do not have a thing for adrenaline." Delta felt the tingling sensation turn to only pressure as Marie leaned harder against the towel, trying to stop the ink from bleeding.

"Oh, yes you do." Sheldon and Marie were both quick to rebut. Marie lifted a corner of the towel from the injury, then pulled the rest of the it off. Marie grabbed her flashlight and magnifying glass to observe the injury proper.

"It…actually doesn't look that bad." Marie spoke after a few moments, sprinkling antiseptic on the injury. "I think it just hit a vein and that's why there was so much ink. But this looks stitch-able."

"You can stitch?" Sheldon asked, surprised.

"I'm the Splatoon medic, remember?" Marie nearly rolled her eyes as she pulled a dark thread from the med kit. "Callie wasn't about to pay attention to boring science, and one of us had to learn." Marie grew quiet as she concentrated, and Delta felt a tugging sensation as Marie stitched the wound closed.

"There." Marie cut off the rest of the thread with a pair of scissors, then dressed the knee in a fresh bandage. "That should hold for now. I can check it in an hour or so."

"Can I take a nap now?" Delta asked, eyes already half closed.

"Yeah." Marie gave Delta a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "I think the worst is over. It's been a hard day; you've earned a little rest. I'll be back in an hour."

Delta didn't need to be told twice—she was out like a light.

* * *

Marie took a deep breath, letting the sharp cold air ease her nerves. It had been a whirlwind of a night, and with Delta's now stable condition Marie could take the time to settle herself down. It had felt like forever since Marie last relied on her medical training, and she now understood why Gramps had insisted on practicing until she could do it in her sleep—otherwise she might have lost Delta earlier.

But Delta's injury meant they couldn't storm Cephalon HQ anytime soon. Marie looked down at the barrier beneath Tentakeel Outpost's glass, looking for its electric sparkle. The shine from the barrier was so slight it was barely perceptible, in fact…was it even there?

There had to be less troops guarding the place, too. Octavio had to have sent some to the rest of Octo Canyon after Delta cleared the place of Zapfish. Marie had wanted to strike the headquarters within twenty-four hours and finally bring Callie home, but Delta's injury made that plan was little more than a pipe dream. She had no choice but go back to the drawing board, consult the book and try again later.

Marie let out a stressed huff, adjusting her headphones as she made her way back inside Cuttlefish Cabin. Sheldon had burned the CD Delta had found after fighting that Ayla girl, and downloaded the files to Marie's phone for her to listen. They sounded like a Turquoise October album, but Marie couldn't understand why. She knew they were popular in Octarian society, but why would a military scout be carrying one? What did an Octarian band have to do with troops? Why did they hear these songs in every single kettle to date?

Marie couldn't figure out the answer because the excited chippers from the Zapfish tank told her Delta had started to stir. Marie pushed herself out of her desk, walking over to the bunk room.

"You have fans." Marie jabbed a thumb towards the direction of the Zapfish tank.

"Heh." Delta lifted her head to look at the Zapfish plastered against the tank wall, eager for a look at their savior. "I guess they were worried about me."

"I can tell them you didn't break any bones." Marie smirked, pulling up a chair. "Because you don't have any bones."

"They don't have any either, I don't think." Delta gave a small chuckle, rubbing at her eyes.

"Actually they do!" Sheldon popped into the room, unannounced. "You see, they have to since the Great Zapfish can grow up to the diameter of the—"

"We'll take your word for it, Sheldon." Marie held up a hand to stop the horseshoe crab before turning back to Delta. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." Delta rested her head back onto her pillow. "Any idea how long this'll take to fully heal?"

"It'll probably be three or four days before that leg is useable." Marie replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "Then we can talk about coming back here."

"I can't wait that long." Delta replied, curling her hands into a nervous fist. "Entrenched's match against Indigone is in two days. If I'm not playing, the team is disqualified."

"Well..." Marie let out a defeated huff. "You gotta do what you gotta do. Two days is better than zero, you can see what it feels like then."

Delta nodded again, but stayed quiet.

"Is it hurting again?" Marie asked after a few moments.

"It's starting to." Delta replied, bringing a hand up to scratch her nose. "You got any more of that painkiller?"

"I've got one more." Marie pulled the med kit from under Delta's bed, grabbing the bottle. "After that I'm out. I'd have had to cut you off pretty soon after that, anyway."

"Why's that?" Sheldon asked as Marie started to unwrap Delta's bandage.

"There's such a thing as too much painkiller." Marie administered the analgesic. "We're not trying to go for general anesthesia here, I hate that squit."

"Oh." Sheldon raised a cocky eyebrow over Marie's comment. "Hate, you say? That's a strong word, Marie."

"It deserves a strong word." Marie grumbled, grabbing a fresh bandage to wrap Delta's injury in. "Some people come off it just fine, others are a little loopy and may or may not…" Marie felt ink rush to her cheeks in an embarrassed blush. "I should shut up."

"Ah-ha, sounds like there's a story there." Delta grinned, teaming up with Sheldon on the subject.

"Care to share with the class?" Sheldon feigned an innocent smile as Marie settled herself back into her chair, glaring daggers at both of them.

"Fine." Marie conceded, realizing the two were too stubborn to let this go, and Sheldon was too eager for payback about the Zapfish tank. "As Delta probably knows, most squids have 'wisdom fangs' that grow into their beak in their late teens or early twenties."

Delta nodded.

"And most squids need to get them pulled because they don't grow in right. I say most because Callie—being the lucky squit that she is—didn't have to. And I'm still salty about that."

"And I was one of the unfortunate ones who needed to get surgery to get them out. We were busy in Inkopolis at the time and didn't have the availability to go home to Calamari County, so Callie was the one to look after me."

"Oh no." Sheldon added.

"No, no she was actually fine." Marie defended. " _I_ was the problem."

* * *

Marie woke up in the operating chair, all smiles and without wisdom fangs. She heard the nurses talk a bit, until one brought Callie into the room. Marie gave her cousin a big smile, who sat down to wait for the nurses to come back with the discharge papers.

Callie took an orange out of her bag and Marie pointed at it, laughing uncontrollably. It was an orange! That was orange! And when she peeled the orange there was even more orange underneath! It was genius humor—Callie was so funny. She slowly lowered the orange in front of Marie, who laughed at it even more. Marie vaguely registered Callie giggling, then holding her shellphone up to record.

The orange had magically disappeared when the nurses came back into the room. Marie heard Callie talking to them while she busied herself with a staring contest against the ceiling light. …Dang, the light was really good at not blinking. It, like…didn't. Ever. How was that possible?

"You sure she's good to go?" Callie asked, and Marie thought she saw Callie gesture to the staring contest party.

"Yeah she's fine." The nurse waved Callie's hesitation off. "That should clear up in a couple hours or so, once she sleeps it off."

So they plopped Marie into a wheelchair and started moving her out the front door. The movement of the wheels registered as none other than an amusement park ride, and Marie was delighted to be cutting loose.

"This is the best Wahoo World ride everrrrr!" Marie tried to exclaim, flinging her arms out to her sides for the entire hospital lobby to see. Callie had to stop pushing the wheelchair because she was laughing so hard. She later told Marie it sounded more like "Thib id da befth mumfl murlb rooc ebar" because of the swollen, numb cheeks and gauze in her mouth.

Marie's speech had regained some intelligibility when they arrived at the apartment. Callie was busy setting up the couch and Marie had managed to sneak away into the kitchen, where she discovered a marching baton leaning against the fridge. Then—suddenly—Marie realized she could twirl it. Callie had found her when she was about to start.

"Whoa whoa whoa." Callie came jogging over to her cousin. "Let's put the charger down, ok?" Callie took the baton away from Marie. "Come with me." She led Marie to the kitchen chairs and instructed her to stay while Callie called someone on her shellphone. Marie felt around her face while she waited for her cousin to get off the phone. And that was when she realized—someone took her nose. Marie couldn't feel it, so obviously someone took it. And she didn't know who was responsible or where it was, which meant she would never see her nose again. The thought brought Marie to tears.

"Ok never mind, I have to go." Callie hung up as Marie started bawling on the floor. "Hey, what's up?" Marie felt a hand on her back as her cousin squatted next to her.

"They took my nose…" Marie slurred out between hiccups.

"What?" Callie apparently couldn't understand the obvious. "Oh! No, no one took it. It's still there, you just can't feel it because you're numb." Callie tried to rub comforting circles into Marie's back. "So calm down, 'kay? You're gonna rip out your stitches if you keep this up. And trust me, you've had waaaaaay more than enough loopy juice for one day." Marie wailed harder, certain Callie wasn't understanding her predicament.

"Ok, you know what?" Callie's hand vanished and then put something into Marie's hands. "Good news, I found your nose. You left it in the kitchen."

"You found it…" Marie stared in wonder at her nose. She hugged it to her chest as she vaguely registered Callie throwing her arms into the air and muttering "how did that work?"

"Ok." Callie said, pulling Marie back up to her feet. "Nap time, executive older cousin orders. And once you've slept enough we'll watch all the movies and eat all the ice cream you want, ok?" Marie took a few steps toward the couch before stopping dead in her tracks. She was staring at the waving colors of the room when the realization hit her like a thunderbolt. Of course! Everything made sense now. Marie could see the inner workings of the universe so clearly with her sudden epiphany. The world wasn't rocket science, it was just…this. Marie felt like this realization was sent to her from the sea itself.

"Callie, I have to tell you something." Marie grabbed her cousin by the shoulders and looked at her with the utmost desperation. She had to tell Callie. She had to share with the world!

"…What?" Callie's voice sounded hesitant.

"I love tacos." Marie replied with the utmost sincerity and solemnity.

Marie's cousin vanished because she had dropped to the floor, holding her sides and howling with laughter. Poor Callie, Marie found the ability to think to herself. Callie was a simple mind. The complexity and nature of Marie's epiphany had shattered her cousin's psyche.

"It's okay." Marie knelt down in an attempt to fix her cousin. "I will help you. Repeat after me. I…"

"You…" Callie choked out between giggles.

"Love…"

"Love…"

"Tacos." Marie finished, and Callie erupted into laughter again.

The next thing Marie remembered was waking up on the couch with a sore mouth and an overwhelming sense of embarrassment. She turned to her cousin, pleading her to say it was just a dream. Callie was all too eager to say it wasn't.

And why do cousins have to record _everything_?

* * *

Delta and Sheldon burst out laughing, earning a disgruntled glare from Marie.

"All right, you two misfits." Marie grumbled as she stood from her chair. "Entertainment time is over. Time to get you two back. Sheldon—" Marie motioned for Delta to sit up. "—close down the Cabin before you leave. I'm gonna take Delta back to her apartment."

"I can do it myself…" Delta protested, trying to gather the courage to stand on her own.

"Yeah, and I like pineapple pizza." Marie looped and arm around Delta, guiding her to the exit of Cuttlefish Cabin. "C'mon, let's get you home."

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, or followed so far! It was pretty convenient that misfortune fell on Chapter 13, I didn't plan that timing and it was almost spooky to see.**

 **On another note, I embedded a poll onto my profile (I think) that's super important. Marie's book is an actual book in real life, and one I've been using throughout the story to develop its plot. I also lost it at a research conference a couple weeks ago and had to buy a new one...which I'm still salty about. I need to know how many of you are curious about learning what it is in order to properly plan for a scene a couple chapters from now. So if you folks could do me a huge favor and vote in that poll for me, I'd appreciate it. Or if you could tell me if the thing isn't working, that'd be great too. This is my first time using a poll on FFNet and I have no idea if it's even there.**

 **At any rate, I hope you enjoyed!**


	15. Chapter 14

Delta stirred under the covers, gingerly reaching a hand out to shut off her blaring alarm. The hand moved to her forehead as she rubbed at her eyes, massaging the sleep away before taking a deep breath. Delta gingerly pulled the white covers off herself as she sat up, letting out a yawn before turning her attention to the jagged black line of stitches running down the side of her knee. Delta had spent the majority of the past two days in bed, trying her best to speed up the healing process. But as of that morning, she had to deal with whatever she had.

It was time.

It was time for the quarter finals against Indigone, and Delta needed to know if she could pull herself together for the match. She slid her left leg off the corner of her mattress before taking a deep breath. After a brief moment of collecting her courage, Delta eased her right leg off the bed, gingerly guiding herself into a one-legged stand.

 _Come on, come on…_ Delta pleaded to herself as she slowly put weight on the injured leg, quickly drawing the foot back up to her knee as she felt a dull tug. She gulped, pushing down the well of dread that had begun to form in her stomach. That felt tight—but maybe it just needed a stretch. Delta tried again, this time pausing when her foot was halfway to the ground to let her muscles acclimate more slowly. After a minute or two of gently easing into it, Delta managed to get her leg to at least three quarters of its normal functionality. She might need to hide a bit of a limp, but it would have to do.

Delta made her way to the dresser, fishing out her camo mask and changing into her white V-neck. She made sure to reach for black leggings rather than shorts—Delta knew Judd would question her ability to play if anyone saw Marie's stitching. After pulling her brown sneakers on, Delta grabbed her camo pack and limped out the front door. It was still over an hour before the match with Indigone, but Delta wanted to arrive before the rest of Entrenched did so she wouldn't run the risk of the boys spotting her limp on the walk over.

"There you are!" Kai's electric blue helmet popped into the glass doorway as Delta unzipped her camo pack. She looked up to watch his oval eyebrows twist into confusion as Addam and Dylan stepped into the Deca Tower's entryway.

"Where's your color?" Kai gestured a perplexed hand at Delta, who spared a glance at her twin tentacles. Her stomach turned in an internal wince as emerald stared back at her.

"Sorry." Delta sucked in a breath, willing the color to shift back to Entrenched's electric blue. "Must have slipped my mind."

"It's cool." Dylan eyed his best friend for another heartbeat before leaning against the Tower's black steel, pulling out his ink tank from his own backpack and loosening its straps. "We're set on today's plan, right?"

"I don't care about the deets this time, honest." Kai jammed the magazine into one of his dualies with extra fervor. "All I care about is that we splat Indigone into the ground." Delta hid her wince, passing off her shaky breath as a cough.

"Knocking them to loser's would be sweet justice." Dylan muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. "Remember when they sabotaged us at the scavenger hunt?"

"And all their 'better than thou' smack talk." Kai groaned, giving his eyes a roll. "It's almost like they've been hounding us, too. They show up everywhere we go. Remember when Feer showed up while we were at Mako Mart just to punch our carton of eggs?"

"I almost threw it back at him when he was walking away." Delta allowed a small snicker, remembering the small spectacle at the grocery store.

"You did." Dylan corrected with a chuckle. "Thank cod you missed."

"Yeah, we gotta knock Indigone into loser's and out of this thing." Kai added as Delta pulled her Splattershot out of its case. "Because who the carp smashes someone else's eggs?" Delta was about to offer a witty reply, but her mood dampened as her blue eyes caught sight of the growing crowd just outside of the Tower. This was the quarter finals, of course there would be a huge audience—and there would be even more watching the live broadcast. Delta didn't understand why she thought differently. Dylan seemed quick to pick up on his friend's discomfort, since Delta soon felt a supportive touch on her shoulder.

"You got this." Dylan offered an encouraging smile as Delta felt a dreaded twinge from her injured leg. "You're Delta. Whatever happens, you'll get it done." Delta was dying to believe him, but this time she couldn't bring herself to.

A blaring horn sounded off as the screens in the Deca Tower's waiting area flashed to electric blue splashed against golden yellow. The match was about to start, and teams were expected to enter the lobby. Lil Judd hopped his way to Entrenched, instructing the team to wait for Indigone to take the first spawn point. Delta looked over the little kitten to find Judd senior leading Indigone through the crowd and up to the Tower. Delta fully expected the team's black-clad members to stop and throw insults at Entrenched, but instead Indigone hardly even acknowledged their rivals. Each member stared dead ahead, eyes trained only on the launchpad just past the Deca Tower's doors. There was no snicker, no jab at Kai's confidence, no waste of motion in their stride, not even a single misstep in the team's cadence. The only interaction was Kylos pushing his sunglasses down to lock eyes with what looked like Kai. Kylos didn't even break his stride as he walked past—and that was all Delta needed to understand.

Gone were the times for smack talk and lesser quips, and now was the time for action. Indigone wanted to be rid of Entrenched as much as Delta's team wanted to knock Kylos down a peg—and they had been training for this day. It was game time, and Indigone was already in the zone.

Lil Judd motioned for Entrenched to follow when Murk vanished from the launchpad. Addam was first to launch to Shellendorf Institute, then Kai—with Delta right behind him.

"Wait." Delta halted as she felt Dylan's hand grab her arm. "What's wrong?" _Carp_.

"Nothing." Delta lied through her internal grimace. That was a stupid mistake—why did she let Dylan walk behind her?

"Nothing?" Dylan echoed, his voice loaded with disbelief. "Delta, you're limping—"

"It's fine!" Delta hissed a little too harshly, yanking her arm away from Dylan's concerned grip. She did not want to get into this—not moments before the match, not later—not ever.

"It's fine." Delta repeated more calmly, slightly ashamed of her sudden outburst. "Just a little stiff. Must've slept on it wrong." She stepped on the launchpad before Dylan could reply, hurtling herself toward Shellendorf Institute and away from the awkward situation she had gotten herself into.

* * *

Delta landed on Entrenched's electric blue spawn point, taking the far left position on their base. Dylan landed shortly afterwards, gripping his brella and staying on Kai's right. Delta quietly gulped at the four level drops ahead of her, each accompanied by maroon stairs leading back to spawn. That was a lot of knee work—she would need to swim over those instead of walk.

"Ladies and gentlesquids!" The match's announcer began addressing the audience as Delta nudged Addam, jerking her head to the side route to her left. She'd cover the left side.

"Welcome to today's main event, one of the four quarter finals of the National Turf Wars!" The announcer continued, and Addam pointed to the zone just before the glass awning. He'd set up a backline defense there and support the center push. Delta looked to Kai and Dylan—who would run right side and center, respectively.

"Today's match pits Entrenched against Indigone—the new underdogs against the returning champions of last year, and bitter rivals no less!" Delta shut her eyes, wishing the announcer would just shut the heck up so she could get this over with. "These two teams have been eager for a showdown since opening night, and now they finally get their chance! Will the old veterans show the young upstarts who's boss? Or is it time for some new champions? We'll find out in three…"

Delta took a deep breath, waiting for the familiar rush of adrenaline to kick in.

"Two…"

Nothing happened.

"One…"

 _Carp._

"GO!"

Delta's eyes popped open as she rushed forward, hastily bringing her Splattershot up to shoot the maroon carpeting in front of her. She ran up the side route, tossing a Burst Bomb at the center turf to her right as she tried to calm her mounting nerves. It was fine. Everything was fine. She'd had rocky starts to matches before, all Delta needed to do was focus and she would get into the groove eventually.

"Contact!" Delta heard Dylan shout over the radio as she stopped at the ledge next to the glass awning. "Blaster and bloblobber approaching center!" _Murk and Feer_ , Delta thought to herself as she fired electric blue at the side route below her. That left Kylos and Alyssa unaccounted—

The telltale shine of a laser pointer snapped Delta back to reality, and she quickly took cover behind the nearby wall before Alyssa could fire.

"Contact!" Delta shouted back as she lobbed a suppressing burst bomb at the ledge across the center gap. "Charger coming up left side, I can keep her busy."

"Kylos just popped out of nowhere on the right!" Delta listened to Kai's frantic tone as she inched an eye out of cover. "Dylan watch out, he'll be right behind you soon!" The shining dot swerved back to Delta and she ducked back into cover—Alyssa's shot missed by less than an inch, way too close for Delta's comfort.

"Cover for me." Dylan's voice was back on the radio as his mic picked up the ping of an autobomb. "I need the canopy to deal with Murk here." Delta quickly sidestepped from her cover and fired her Splattershot at Alyssa's last location, hoping to catch the Indigone player without a charge. She was in luck; Delta's eyes picked out the barrel of a charger slipping into cover.

"He's—" Kai was cut short by a deep, heavy swoosh. Delta spared a glance through the awning on her right to find Kylos advancing to where Dylan once was. Indigone's leader must have taken both teammates out with a single swing of his dynamo.

But Kylos' victory was short-lived, thanks to Dylan's autobomb. Delta briefly saw Kylos burst into blue before a dreaded hiss sounded at her feet. She looked down to find a can sputtering out yellow ink, and she dove backwards to avoid the fizzy bomb. With Dylan out of the way, Murk must have turned his attention to Delta—and an advancing Blaster was never good for a Splattershot wielder.

"Feer's here." Addam spoke over the radio, and a look through the glass confirmed his words. Delta heard her tank ding, signaling her Splashdown was ready.

"You have your special?" Delta asked him, carefully sliding back to her position to keep Indigone from catching on to her strategy. With Kai and Dylan still respawning, Delta needed to take charge.

"Yeah." She heard Addam's reply as she slid back from the edge, wincing at the splash of golden yellow from Murk's blaster. She needed to move.

"Hold onto it 'till the others respawn." Delta backed off, running toward the gap in the glass ceiling. "I'm going in." She spotted Feer just past the center exhibit below her and jumped off the edge of the gap, ignoring the laser sight closing in on her position.

Delta waited until the height of her jump to smack the red button on her tank, letting her Splashdown keep herself airborne for half a second longer. Alyssa snapped her aim upwards, but her shot only grazed the tentacles at the back of Delta's neck. Delta slammed her special through the gap in the glass awning, landing right on top of Feer. He popped into blue ink below her, giving Delta a fraction of a second to celebrate. She still had it in her.

But Delta's knee buckled as she tried to stand, and Alyssa was quick to reposition her aim. She didn't miss a second time—sniping Delta between the eyes.

Dylan and Kai were already rushing toward a golden center when Delta respawned—which told her Alyssa had launched her Bubble Blower after splatting Delta. She jogged up the side route to her right, covering turf as she moved to support the center push. Delta chucked a Burst Bomb at the side zone's far corner before turning toward the center. She ran in—

—only to end up back at Entrenched's spawn. Carp, she must not have seen Alyssa.

"Yo, Delta!" Kai called through the radio. "We need you in the center! Come on, get to it!"

"Understood." Delta muttered a quick reply before gripping her Splattershot and running up Shellendorf Institute's center lane. A sharp pain shot up her leg when she jumped off the last ledge, causing Delta to wince and stumble. Maybe that stunt with her Splashdown wasn't the smartest of her ideas.

Delta half-jogged, half-limped to the center—and Murk and Feer were there to stop her. Delta steeled herself, slowing down in a desperate attempt to outrange Murk's Luna Blaster. Her Splattershot landed a couple hits before his blast closed in, and Delta had to swim away to protect herself. She had noticed Feer's bubbles too late.

Delta respawned once again, this time with a sense of unease gnawing at her gut. They were getting crushed.

"…Again?" Kai respawned next to her. "Get back in there, come on—you got this."

Kai was wrong. Delta tried moving up the center lane, only to be splatted by Alyssa. She tried the side route on the left, only to be splatted by Alyssa. She ran up the right... only to be splatted by Alyssa.

There were less than thirty seconds left when she saw Dylan make a break for the center, flanked by Addam.

"I've almost got my special." Dylan spoke over the radio as Delta's eyes found a black dynamo on the left side route. How did Kylos even get there? "If I can take the center with it, we might be able to make a last-second push!"

"I'll cover from the left." Delta was already moving, skidding to a stop behind a wall for cover. She peeked around its side—half the zone was yellow but there was no Kylos to be found.

"I've got it!" Delta heard Dylan's excited shout—before detecting movement in the corner of her eye. She tried a desperate dive out of the way, but her leg buckled out from under her. The last thing she saw was Kylos' dynamo smashing down in front of her.

Delta respawned for what felt like the thousandth time, listening to the hopeful shouts of her teammates as Dylan started his Splat Bomb Launcher. It sounded like the bombs were pushing Indigone's front liners back, if she could get back in there she could—

Delta saw it way too late.

She looked above the glass ceiling as Kylos finished charging his Booyah Bomb, and there was no time to warn the others before he hurled it through the gap in the awning. Delta could only watch as the ball of golden energy slammed into the center, splatting Addam and Dylan in an explosion of ink. The blast radius erased the blue from Dylan's incomplete special, and Alyssa's Bubble Blower splatted Kai as he tried to sneak in from the right. Entrenched's last hope had come to a screeching halt in a matter of seconds.

Ten seconds left. Kylos' dynamo was already advancing up the center lane, pushing Delta back to spawn. Alyssa quickly perched herself at the edge of the glass ceiling, Murk charged in from the right side and Feer advanced on the left. There was hardly any blue in sight when the final buzzer sounded. Judd almost didn't need to study the turf before raising his golden yellow flag; Indigone had undisputedly won.

Sixty to twenty.

* * *

"Kylos came from the left side route." Kai had descended on Delta the moment she stepped out of Deca Tower. "That meant you let him through. We could've won that thing in the last thirty seconds, but because he was still around we lost our one shot. What the carp happened?!"

"Woah there, chill out." Dylan was quick to intervene, shoving a hand onto Kai's chest to stop his advance. "We all did what we could. I don't think it was her—"

"Except for her!" Kai's helmet swiveled as he snapped his head towards Dylan. "That wasn't the Delta we needed out there." He looked back towards the Splattershot player. "And I need to know why."

"I don't know." Delta went for the first thing that came to mind; her brain was racing too fast to come up with a good enough lie.

"Oh, for carp's—" Dylan threw his arms in the air in frustration, before gripping Kai's shoulder to grab his attention. "She totally knows. She's hurt. I saw her limping right before the match, okay?" Kai's eyes widened in surprise as he turned back to look at Delta for confirmation. She couldn't meet his gaze, and that was all he needed to know.

"So it's true." Kai muttered.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you." Dylan explained, his voice softer as Kai calmed down. "She did her best; it's not her fault."

"Sorry." Kai turned away, taking a few steps to calm himself. "I shouldn't have assumed like that. It's just…" He scratched under his helmet's buckle. "Our gear is falling apart. We wouldn't have had much of a shot at grand finals even in winner's bracket, much less from loser's. We're running out of opportunities for a sponsor, and if we don't get one soon our stuff is gonna break. And who's gonna want to sign someone from losers?"

"What happened?" All heads turned to Addam, mildly surprised at the Splatling wielder's sudden input. He was leaning against the glass wall, eyes trained on Delta. Years of experience with his minimalistic phrases told her that he was asking how she got hurt. Kai and Dylan looked back at Delta, waiting for her answer.

"I don't want to talk about it." Delta crossed her arms, voice soft and somber. "It was just a…stupid mistake." Anger quickly flashed across Dylan's green eyes—a rare emotion for his level-headed demeanor—but it was gone in an instant.

"All right, that's it." Dylan's voice was low. "You two—" he pointed at Kai and Addam. "Get back to the apartment. I'll come join you later." He lightly clapped Kai on the shoulder to get him moving, and the two turf players slinked out of the tower's waiting area. Delta scooped her Splattershot back up, moving to follow them.

"No." Delta froze at the uncharacteristic firmness in Dylan's tone. "We're going for a walk." Dylan held out his brella, offering her to use it as a cane.

"I don't need it." Delta shrugged him off. She might have been in pain, but she was proud. She wasn't about to waddle around the city like an old lady. Dylan said nothing, turning around to lead her out of the Deca Tower and out of the Square.

Delta quietly followed Dylan as he stopped in the secluded alleyway behind the Galleria—the same one she used to sneak her way to Tentakeel Outpost. He stopped halfway down the narrow alley, securely out of earshot from both Grizzco Industries and Jelfonzo's shop.

"Sit." Dylan commanded as he overturned an open can—one of the large ones Sheldon used to store cargo in. Delta didn't object to Dylan's tone, resting her weight on the rim of the can's flat bottom. Dylan leaned against the other wall of the alley, crossing his arms and looking directly at his friend. A quiet, tense heartbeat passed between them.

"Talk." Dylan finally spoke.

"…What?" Delta's eyebrows furrowed, taken aback by her friend's frank speech.

"If you think I'm gonna let you sneak around when you show up with _that_ —" Dylan pointed at Delta's knee. "—then you can think again. So talk."

"Dylan," Delta gave a flattered but nervous chuckle, realizing what he was up to. Her injury had him concerned, and he wanted her to talk about it. "It's okay, I have it under control. I'm fi—"

"You're not fine." Dylan quickly interrupted, re-folding his arms. "You don't have it under control, and it's not okay."

Delta shut her mouth.

"You can't lie to me." Delta could pick out a faint sense of hurt leaking through Dylan's voice. "I know you, Delta. There's no way you would risk an injury mere days before a big match like that. You wouldn't be sneaking off, period. You haven't been yourself since our first match of the tournament. First you were oversleeping, then you were distracted in the scavenger hunt, then the thing with the gloves, and then…" Dylan swiped a quick thumb across his chin, looking away for a brief moment before returning his gaze to Delta.

"Then you're freeing up time for these meetings with…someone, whoever the carp that is." Dylan's tentacle bun quivered as he spoke, but Delta couldn't figure out what the emotion was. Aggravation? Anger? Frustration?

"And then you show up to quarter finals with a limp? And I'm supposed to be okay with that?" Delta averted her gaze to her chocolate sneakers, stunned into silence. She was caught entirely off guard by Dylan's words, mentally kicking herself for not even thinking about how her best friend would react to her sporadic vanishing acts.

"I have tried to get you to open up twice already." Dylan let out a defeated sigh, bringing his fingers up to the bridge of his nose. "And when you didn't say anything, I had hoped you would when you needed to. But now—" An exasperated hand flew off Dylan's nose. "—now whatever it is you're doing is hurting you. And I am _not_ just gonna sit back and let that happen. So you are going to open your mouth. And. Start. Talking. Don't lie this time."

Delta closed her eyes, her still shocked brain fumbling around for the emergency explanation Marie had taught her. She was drawing a complete blank.

"Who is this someone you're meeting with?" Dylan pressed, not taking Delta's silence for an answer. "Did you get into trouble with the wrong crowd? Do you owe someone money? Are you meeting with someone who's hurting you? A boyfriend? It better not be..."

"No," Delta began, finally finding some words. "Dylan, stop—"

"Because if you've been sneaking off to meet with a boyfriend who's been hurting you then I swear to cod I will shred him apart from the ears down before feeding his undeserving head to the next Salmonid horde I see." Words flew out of Dylan faster than a raging rip tide, and Delta shut her mouth again. She'd never seen Dylan this upset.

"And I don't care if Kai banned us from Grizzco jobs." Dylan looked straight into Delta's gaze, eyes wild with retribution. "I'll take one just to do that. Because you deserve someone much better, someone who would treat you like the catch you really are."

Delta's hearts stopped. She slowly looked back up at Dylan, whose eyes widened as he realized his mistake. He'd gotten carried away; said too much. Delta quickly realized that during Dylan's entire outburst, he hadn't been angry with her at all. He was angry at whoever he thought was hurting someone he cared deeply for. So why did he care so much? Delta's hands came up to her mouth as she rested her elbows on her knees—and her eyes happened to flick to a passage on the tourism brochure abandoned by her feet. The answer to that question had become painfully clear:

"Don't miss out on Wahoo World!" The passage read. "This amusement park doubles as a Turf Wars stage, and it's also a hot date spot for young Inklings…" Delta's overloaded brain shut off.

"Our hangout at Wahoo World." Delta spoke slowly as she pieced the hints together. "That was a date, wasn't it?"

"That…" Dylan managed an embarrassed word through the deep, cobalt blue blush that had sprung onto his cheeks. "That's not the point of this discussion."

"You didn't deny it." Delta raised an eyebrow, determined to keep him from squirming out of the topic.

It was Dylan's turn to shut his mouth.

Delta's nails dug into her chin as she started piecing more hints together. The fact that she didn't pay for her own ticket, and that Dylan had thoughtfully packed a picnic for a one-on-one talk should've been a dead giveaway. And at Wahoo World, no less.

"All right, fine." Dylan let out a defeated sigh, before squaring his shoulders and meeting Delta's gaze. "You're right. It was a date. I thought it went well, I thought I had a shot—and then…" He gave a hurt shrug, looking back down at his feet. "Then you were meeting with someone else."

"That…wasn't a boyfriend…" Delta pulled at a tentacle, trying to form words without giving herself away. She couldn't find any, and panic quickly flooded the rest of her overwhelmed brain. "I-I have to go." Delta quickly slipped off her seat on and slinked away—and Dylan was far too embarrassed to follow.

* * *

Delta had gone straight to bed when she got back to her apartment, and she hardly moved for an entire day. She had simply laid in bed, staring at her white ceiling—only getting up for food and small walks around the apartment. Part of it was to give her leg more rest, and the other part was a feeble attempt to process. Dylan's unintentional confession had taken the Inkling entirely by surprise, and Delta found herself replaying their past interactions in her head only to find more hints she never picked up on.

She quickly discovered that there were plenty of them. Dylan had sounded nervous over the phone when he asked her to Wahoo World, and Delta had been too desperate for entertainment to pick up on it. And he had been acting funny after their win against TGO—in fact, wasn't he about to ask something right as Marie called?

Delta closed her eyes. Their conversation just before he had tried to ask may have only been a few words, but there was something…different about it. Something…deeper? Heavier? Delta didn't know how she felt about that, and that was almost frightening. Dylan was a good friend, she didn't want things to get weird between them. But at the same time…Delta let out a frustrated sigh. She had no idea how to parse that apart, the Dylan fiasco would have to wait until she figured everything else out.

Kai had come by to apologize again, and she had quickly forgiven him. He hadn't known what was going on. They had left on good terms, but Delta didn't feel any better. She might have forgiven Kai, but she hadn't forgiven herself.

Delta finally decided to leave the place on the next day—it was clear she wasn't going to find any answers at the apartment. Delta pulled a black hoodie over her white V-neck, deciding to go for a walk. It was sundown by the time Delta left the building, and she found the Square filled with turf teams discussing dinner plans. Restaurants and eateries were starting to close to conserve generator power, a clear sign that the city was running out of time. Delta slinked towards the alley just past the Shoal, trying her best to ignore the whispers and stares from the other teams. She ended up pulling her hood over her head in an attempt to hide from the embarrassment. Of course her screwup had to be televised, and of course other teams had to rub it in.

Delta escaped into the quiet alley, safely alone. She shifted her weight into an experimental stretch, silently noting that the gash in her leg felt much better. What luck; of course it would be usable the day after the big match.

She kept walking, wandering the backroads of Inkopolis to let her mind loose. The looks from the Square were a stark, stinging reminder that Delta had failed her team. Their coach had always stressed that teammates were like battle buddies—friends who had become family by sticking with her through thick and thin. They were brothers-in-arms because they had her back, and she didn't have theirs. As a competitive teammate, they needed her head in the game and her focus on Nationals. She wondered if she had either, if she had instead placed the NSS above Entrenched. Delta didn't know if that was the right thing to do—it gave her a bum knee when her team needed her the most. She had her priorities elsewhere, and her friends had to pay the price.

Delta felt like she was chasing two fish in the current, but had none in the beak. Entrenched was in losers, Callie was still missing, the Great Zapfish still wasn't recovered and the Octarian threat was still at large. Delta found herself wondering if she should have taken a harder line with Marie when she was asked to join the NSS. Maybe she shouldn't have let the popstar persuade her. Maybe Delta wasn't the warrior Agent 2 was looking for. The turfer visibly winced; that thought had pierced through Delta's gut and hurt her very soul.

Because if Delta couldn't handle the NSS, how could she be expected to handle the military? How was she supposed to hold her own in combat missions? How was she supposed to protect her squad mates, even through the worst of times? Was that moment on the mountain nothing more then a stroke of luck? Delta had rebuilt her identity around that experience, transforming herself from a pushover to a force to be reckoned with. She trained for years to join the military—where her coach promised that kind of inner fire belonged. Was she a fluke? Did she rebuild herself from a random happenstance? Did Delta not have what it takes to be a good soldier? Would things be better off if she quit the NSS, forced Marie to look for someone better qualified for Agent 4, and just focused on Nationals? Delta wanted nothing more than to be wrong, but she worried if she was right.

Delta's meandering brought her to the café just past Off the Hook's studio. It had closed to conserve energy—so no one noticed her lean against the glass. She watched a Turf War team leave the Deca Tower, stopping below a streetlight to chat about their recent win. That was what she would have looked like if she had never followed Marie down that grate, Delta realized. She would have been just like that squid girl in front of her, chattering excitedly about how cool the match was and where they could go to celebrate later. Delta's breath caught in her chest as the streetlight flickered above them—but the other girl cheerfully carried on with her conversation, oblivious to its warning.

Delta's blue eyes curiously scanned the rest of the Square. The place wasn't packed, but it had its fair share of passerby. Delta counted at least four more Turf War teams—plus a bustling stream of of jellyfish, cephalopods and the occasional crustacean. There were plenty of bodies in the Square, and not one of them seemed to notice that all of the lights struggled to stay on. That, or no one cared—too involved with their daily routine to realize the city would be vulnerable to attack in only a few days.

They were sheep—Delta suddenly remembered her coach's old hyoo-man analogy. The team in front of her were little more than a flock of sheep—blissfully grazing on Turf Wars and city life, oblivious to the streetlight flickering dangerously above them. They were entirely unaware of the threat a blackout would bring them, ignorant of the dangers that lurked just past their pasture. And when it was time for the Octarians to invade, they would flee just like the rest of the flock.

And Delta was no sheep.

The realization slapped the Inkling across the face, sending a punch to her gut faster than a rip tide. Delta knew of the dangers just outside Inkopolis, she knew how bad an omen the sputtering lights were. Delta understood that Octavio's main force would arrive in the Canyon very soon, waiting like wolves to descend on the flock when there was no power left to defend them. Delta was never destined to flee with the flock at the first sign of danger. She simply wasn't a sheep at all.

Delta was the sheepdog.

She was the sheepdog in the ancient analogy, the guardian that watches over the flock and protects it from those that would prey upon it. Delta looked down at her hands as chills of conviction ran down her body. Delta's dream was to be the hero the reserve units were to her; plucking her out of the dangers she faced on Mount Nantai. She wanted to be that hero for others. That was the dream of a sheepdog; it was so clear now. And if Delta wasn't that hero yet, then she was going to develop herself until she got there. And she was going to start by pushing through her sense of failure until she turned it into a success. Because Delta wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Her gut tightened into familiar indignation as she caught sight of the Rainmaker-shaped scar on her right palm. She had proved her destiny as a sheepdog that day on the mountain, four years ago. Delta had a will to fight for life, buried deep within herself. She was the one to hunt evil rather than live in fear of it.

And Octavio was the wolf she needed to hunt. It was his pack that laid in wait, ready to pounce when Inkopolis was at its weakest. It was his pack that had squidnapped Callie and put her through cod knows what. It was his pack that took all fifty baby Zapfish—some not even old enough to produce a full current—and caged them, forcing them to fuel his army. It was his pack that threatened the city over sins committed generations ago. Delta was one of the few who knew the full story, and the only one with the indignation to stop them.

Delta closed her eyes, taking solace in the familiar rush that flew through her mind. Her inner fire, her inner beast was still inside—just waiting for Delta to come around. It was biding its time, like a patient puppy waiting for its owner to come home. And Delta had found her way back home—back to the path she was always meant to walk. She hadn't fought four sectors in the NSS to run at the first sign of trouble, and she wasn't going to quit because of a teeny-weeny boo-boo. She wasn't going to let that stop her from delivering Octavio his due retribution. Octavio owed her flock a debt, and Delta would not rest until it was paid. What ifs were nothing more than excuses, and she had no time for excuses—only results.

Delta knew what she needed to do. She crossed the Square and snuck down the grate to Tentakeel Outpost.

Delta had some wolves to hunt.

* * *

 **A/N: Welcome to the beginning of the end. This chapter marks the beginning of Caught in a Lie's final phase, where things really heat up. A lot has happened this chapter, but it's just the tip of the iceberg of what's to come. And the next few chapters should (hopefully) start coming out faster. So get comfy, get yourself caught up and grab some tissues…because it's about to get** _ **NUTS**_ **.**

 **The sheepdog analogy defines a response to fear in a given situation. If you incite fear and try to hurt those around you, you are the wolf. If you live in fear of the wolf or try to pretend that its threats don't exist, you are the sheep. If you fight the fear and stop the wolf for the good of yourself and/or others, you are the sheepdog. These roles can also be fluid. LTC (RET) Dave Grossman's original version was a little different, the analogy had adapted into many different versions by the time it was taught to me. I had tried to translate the analogy into maritime animals, but it quickly lost its meaning. That's why I left it as is, and turned it into a relic from the human past that Delta's coach found and taught her.**

 **And in case it wasn't clear—I couldn't tell if it was—what had set Dylan off was the hint of shame in Delta's voice just beforehand. Combine that with the fact that she wasn't defending herself from Kai and that she was hiding something serious, he had decided enough was enough and tried to confront her so he could help her. If you're curious about all the hints about Dylan that Delta missed, the majority of them are in chapters 1, 7, 8, 11 and 12 if you want to look for them yourself.**

 **The tourism brochure's wording is adapted from the splatoonus tumblr, where I originally got the idea for the date.**

 **Couple of housekeeping things—I went back and changed a couple small details in some other chapters with this update. Here's basically the patch notes, haha:**

 **-The name of Callie's dad changed from Gus to Carl. Really minor.**

 **-After thinking about this for a really long time, I've decided to age Delta up by two years. She is now 18 across all chapters instead of 16. I've actually done the same to all of Entrenched and Indigone, but Delta's the one it impacts the most. This is because the Squid Sisters in this story are actually 20-21 instead of 18-19. It's really not that big a change and the story is** _ **much**_ **better off this way.**


	16. Chapter 15

Marie's finger slammed the pause button. That wasn't right. It was strong, loud—too loud. Marie cracked a small, nostalgic smile. That was always Callie's problem.

Marie needed something to temper Callie's energy with. She looked around Cuttlefish Cabin for inspiration, not finding anything until she brushed a crumb off her black kimono. …Kimono. They wanted a callback to old times, right? Something traditional would do nicely. A whistle, maybe. That would be simple, unexplosive. It wouldn't clash too much with the song's energy, just… calm it a little.

Marie took another bite of the Seanwich she had ordered for takeout before wrestling with her music software, trying to add her change in. She eventually won the battle and brought her headphones back to her ears, ready for another listen. …Perfect. That last whistle was the final change Marie needed; the half-finished song she had found in Callie's room was nearly complete. All that was left was to see what her cousin thought of Marie's final version.

Marie quickly hit the save button, before the software could decide to throw a tantrum and delete her progress. She let out a contented, nostalgic sigh. Working with Callie's style brought back memories of times that were simpler, happier. Performing as the Squid Sisters for Inkopolis News Time had become some of her fondest memories over time. Marie never thought she could look back on even the fancy parties she had hated at the time… and somehow miss them.

One such party was Bob Dub's annual birthday party, where nearly every big name was invited to celebrate the fact that the guy…existed, apparently. Marie was sure no one had seen the one single wonder in nearly a year, but the musician turned director still threw mysterious parties where he never showed. Dan—the director of Inkopolis News Time—stressed that the guest list would have the press combing through social media, ravenous for a slice of celebrity life. It was a perfect opportunity for the Squid Sisters to make an appearance, and their names would in turn promote the show when the reporters wrote the articles.

* * *

So there Marie was, standing in the ornate ballroom of a massive mansion that belonged to someone she had never met. She watched as artists boasting more jewelry than skin heaped praises onto well-known producers, practicing the art of sucking up. Large, fancy parties were always about the showmanship—every dress was a dare, every smile was a mask, every jewel was a trophy, and every conversation was a lie.

She spared a glance at the massive grandfather clock across from the buffet table. Callie had dragged her through the giant gates by ten, and it was almost midnight. Marie gently pursed her lips, wishing to be back home and spending her time on passions that kept her honest with herself. She'd have the freedom to choose the company of real friends that meant what they said—and stay far away from the party's superficial, overstimulating crowd. But Callie?

Callie lived for it.

It was no secret that the spotlight was where Callie truly came alive, infecting the audience with her contagious energy and melting their hearts with her warm, unconditional happiness. Marie had quickly learned that parties were no different, and would watch as Callie's demeanor transformed from wild klutz to competent socialite. The Squid Sister had a gift for connecting with even the coldest of souls—be they squid, crab, fish or whatever. And the pink squid made it look so easy—just an effortless flick of her hand here, a genuine giggle there, and within moments their face would light up with life. Marie couldn't understand how Callie did it. Marie might have been counting down the minutes to escaping away, but Callie was adoring every second. And Marie couldn't bring herself to tear her cousin away from something she loved so much.

"She's killing it out there." Marie turned around to find a middle-aged anemone glide up to Marie, hands clasped behind her back as she silently froze next to the green squid. Marie recognized her as Enome, one of the most famous opera and film stars of her time. She had become a performing arts critic once Squid Squad pulled the public away from more traditional tastes, and was one Callie always seemed to avoid.

"Yeah." Marie turned her attention back to Callie—who had hardly finished filling her plate before a tall crab tapped her on the shoulder, pulling her into yet another conversation. Camping out by the buffet table had proved a good strategy—Marie could always count on food to be an infallible Callie magnet. "Though you really can't be surprised, can you?"

"Mm, not at all." Enome gave a calm hum as she quickly swiped a tall glass of champagne from a passing server, her graying tendrils starting to stiffen. Marie cast a sideways glance at the anemone, curious at the apparent lack of a clownfish. She quickly looked away, not wanting to seem impolite.

"Your cousin's a natural at showing the right emotions at the right time." Enome jerked her head towards Callie as two million-coin rings rapped against the champagne glass. "She'd be great at acting; I see the makings of a big movie star in her." Enome's tendrils bristled higher. "It would be a great career, a great life of fame—something Callie couldn't get from Inkopolis News Time, that's for sure."

"Huh." Marie looked away, lost in thought. Callie had slipped from sight, wandering off to the far side of the ballroom. "I guess you're right."

"But something's holding her back." Enome turned her ice cold eyes to Marie. "Maybe it's you."

"…Hmm?" Marie turned her confused gaze to the anemone. Enome's comment was so casual—so sudden—Marie was almost certain she had misheard.

"Have you ever thought you might be keeping your cousin from her real potential?" Enome's matter-of-fact words were quick to pounce on the surprised, defenseless squid. "She has to constantly meet your over-critical standards, and you can't be bothered to contribute much yourself. And besides…" Enome's tendrils were fully fluffed into its grey ball, but her tone stayed casually conversational. "We both know you don't belong at a party like this, and Callie clearly does. I'm sure the time she has to waste dealing with you would be better spent—"

"What did you say?!" Callie had materialized in an instant, stepping in front of her cousin and nearly growling at Enome. "You trying to talk smack about my family?" Marie dragged her attention to her cousin, who had abandoned her cheer for the angry glare usually reserved for Octarians on NSS missions. Callie—ever the skilled huntress—had every ounce of her focus reserved only for Enome.

"N-no, not at all." The old critic tried to backpedal, retreating with a nervous chuckle. Callie's challenge clearly hadn't been part of the plan. "You must've mishe—"

"Misheard?" Callie didn't give the anemone the honor of finishing her sentence. "I'll bite." She took a step forward, resting two fingers under her chin with her other hand on her elbow. "You wanna repeat—"

"No, it's fine." Marie grabbed Callie's shoulder in an effort to get her to stand down. It was rare to see Callie get so upset so quickly, and Marie wasn't in the mood to get caught up in an even bigger scene than what was already brewing. "I was about to head home anyway." Callie's raging glare turned into a look of concern as she shifted her attention from Enome to Marie.

"…S-see you." Marie turned and hastily walked out of the party, trying to hide her tears and ignore the curious looks from the other guests.

"Marie, wait!" Marie heard Callie call after her, but the green squid walked faster and her cousin ultimately let her go. Marie glanced back over her shoulder as the mansion's doors closed, and caught a glimpse of Callie turning back to face Enome.

Marie ran all the way back to their apartment and slammed the door shut. She locked it, knowing full well Callie would have her own key but Marie wanted to be left alone anyway. She stormed into her room and flung herself onto her bed, not caring about covers. Marie buried her face in her pillow and let herself sob.

Marie's shoulders shook back and forth as she decided Enome might have a point. Her words stung because they felt true. Marie had hoped she wasn't being too hard on Callie, but it was a concern that sat at the back of her mind. And Marie…definitely felt like she could've been doing more to help with the show.

But what hurt the most was that Enome had hit the nail on the head. Marie never felt like she belonged at celebrity parties, at all. Every second in her dress, every forced smile felt like an insult to herself. Marie felt like she was constantly lying through her fangs, either passing herself off as the brainless pretty girl or retreating into her reserved shell and letting Callie do the talking. She had never stopped to wonder if that impeded her cousin's potential.

Marie heard a key turn in the front door an hour later. She recognized Callie's gait as her cousin walked into the kitchen—and then the footsteps stopped. It was as if Callie was standing, waiting. Listening.

Marie sniffled.

And then Callie was moving again—but this time Marie's ears picked up the rustle of a shopping bag as Callie placed something on the kitchen table. She moved around a little more—opening and closing drawers, putting her jacket away in the closet, and setting more objects on the table. Marie heard Callie's footsteps grow closer and closer, until—

 _Knock knock._

Marie stayed quiet. Maybe Callie would think she wasn't in her room and leave her alone.

 _Knock knock._

Callie wasn't buying it.

"Go away." Marie called through the door. "I don't want to talk."

"Fine." Callie's tone was nonchalant, unfazed. "No worries. That means I can have this _whole chocolate cake_ to myself." Callie's voice sounded farther away as she walked back to the kitchen table. "Mm, this looks so delicious, I can't wait to dig in." Her words were slightly interrupted as she pulled up a chair to sit in.

Marie had to suppress a smile. Her cousin was full of surprises every once in a while. Using high-value food to coax Marie out of her pity party? Clever.

"Oh, you know what?" Callie's cheery voice was undeterred. "I forgot to mention it looks so pretty! It'd be a crime to hurt it without taking a picture and sharing with the world." Marie's shellphone buzzed within moments, and she reached a hand out to grab it off her nightstand. Marie unlocked her shellphone to find a picture of a slimly sculpted chocolate cake, topped with interlacing lines of white frosting and two strawberries. And of course Callie had sent it with a heart-eyes emoji. And then three more. Marie took a determined breath. It was all just bait to get Marie out of her room. Which wasn't going to happen. Not even for a perfect, scrumptious, chocolatiest chocolate cake.

Dang it, it was working.

"Ok!" Callie's classic pep was back. "Enough oogling—let's see what this beauty of a _chocolate cake_ tastes like!" Marie's phone buzzed again. It was another cake picture, this time with a slice missing.

"Mm," Callie wasn't giving up. "Oh my cod, this is soooo good. Arowana Mall really outdid themselves this time. It's, like, the most _chocolate_ I've ever tasted in one bite. Two layers of both milk and dark _chocolate_ , and then I think the frosting's mousse which is just the best. I think I can finish this whole thing in ten minutes." Marie silently scoffed at Callie's claim as she shoved her pillow over her head in a futile attempt to drown her cousin out. There was no way anyone could finish a cake in ten—oh, wait. It was Callie, of course she can eat a cake in ten minutes. Carp. Another text, with another slice missing.

"Oh you know what?" Marie heard Callie put her fork down. "How can I truly enjoy this fresh cake without some fresh music? Silly me—let's fix that." Marie heard the opening bars of Shellfie and turned over in bed. Callie was making this unbearable.

"Meh," Callie sounded unimpressed as she paused the music. "I mean, Chirpy Chips is great and all, but…"

 _No, Callie._ Marie thought to herself as she pushed her face deeper into the mattress. _Don't you dare._

"But this one's my favorite." Callie pressed play, and Marie could recognize that heavenly tune anywhere. Calamari Inkantation. Callie dared.

"Why's it my favorite?" Callie asked herself. "Oh, well it has nothing to do with the fact that it's the freshest song ever. Or that it's basically Inkopolis' anthem now." She paused.

"It's because I wrote it. With my amazing and awesome cousin. And I wouldn't have wanted it any other way."

Marie let out an aggravated yell into her mattress. She couldn't take the dissonance anymore and yanked the door open. She walked into the kitchen, where her cousin was waiting patiently (for once) with a slice of cake already cut out for her. Marie silently took it and sat at the other end of the table.

"We arranged it." Marie quietly corrected her cousin as she broke off a piece of cake with the side of her fork. "It was already a thing."

"Whatever." Callie threw a hand in the air. "My point is it's our version that's in everyone's hearts. We sang it at that folk contest, and the world's never been the same since."

"Thanks." Marie managed a reply through her tugged heartstrings, realizing her cousin had gone above and beyond to help her feel better. She sniffled, taking a bite of the cake and checking the time. It was close to 2 am.

"How did you even get a cake at this hour?" Marie asked.

"Well," Callie began, crossing her arms across her chest. "I learned something new today! Turns out when you call a bakery owner and tell them you're Callie of the Squid Sisters and need a chocolate cake ASAP, they open for you."

"Callie…" Marie pinched the bridge of her nose.

"It's okay, I tipped him a couple hundred coins." Callie shrugged.

"Just…please don't make a habit of that." Marie replied. "Don't tell me I'm going to start seeing 'bribes for late night cakes' in our list of expenses."

"Anyway, Enome is just a jealous squit." Callie continued, clearly not making a promise on the cake thing.

"E for Everyone, Cal." Marie tiredly admonished.

"She's just…not safe to talk to." Callie ignored her cousin's reprimand. "Stay away from her, ok? The thoughts she keeps in that head of hers are so toxic not even a clownfish can live in there."

"Some of those thoughts might be right." Marie quietly murmured, remembering how deep Enome's words cut. "I sleep till noon, wait until the last minute to learn the script—"

"You wanna know why?" Callie was running into Marie's room before Marie could object.

"Callie, wait!" Marie hastily put down her fork and rushed to follow her cousin before she could make a mess of things. She turned into her bedroom to find Callie had already yanked her desk drawer open.

"You sleep till noon—" Callie scooped a paper from the drawer. "—because you stay up till five in the morning writing these—what even are these? They're so advanced I don't even know what they are." Callie stared down at the diagram, scratching her head.

"It's a simple list of direct and indirect attacks." Marie walked up to the desk. "You'd know that if you stayed awake for Gramps' lectures."

"Simple?" Callie replied, incredulous. "Marie, this—" She shook the paper. "—is nowhere near simple. And you do this for fun. You'd rather be spending your time nerding out over the Art of War instead of a fancy party."

Marie opened her mouth, but decided it was best if she kept it closed.

"You wait until the last minute to read your news scripts, sure." Callie continued. "But that's because you only need a minute to get the jist, and the rest of what we do on the show is improv anyway. Just because Enome needs a week with a script for her puny brain doesn't mean you need to do the same."

"Newsflash!" Callie waved her hands in front of Marie's face. "You're smart. Really, really smart. In fact I think you intentionally failed the gifted test back in school because you were afraid of what others would think of you. But being smart isn't anything to be ashamed of. You're the only squid I know who can complement someone and sass them in the same sentence… _while_ plotting an elaborate scheme to kill them at the same time. And I couldn't be any prouder of my cousin."

"Thanks." Marie said, giving Callie a hug. "You're right."

"I'm here." Callie returned the hug. "Anytime you need me to remind you that you're awesome."

"We should probably get some sleep." Marie said as the two cousins walked back to their cake. "If we still want to go shopping tomorrow morning."

"Actually…" Callie chuckled nervously, rubbing the nape of her neck. "I can't go. I have a sudden court date tomorrow."

"What?" Marie's eyebrows furrowed at the last thing she had expected Callie to say. "Why?"

"Enome…might have filed a restraining order against me?" The pink squid gave a sheepish grin.

"Callie!" Marie was shocked. "What did you do when I left?!"

"Nothing that younger cousins need to know about!" Callie held her hands up in a futile attempt to deflect the question.

"You're older by only a year!" Marie protested, but then gave a sigh. Maybe it was for the best that she didn't know what happened. It wasn't like Callie was going to tell her anytime soon anyway.

"…I knew I shouldn't have left you unsupervised."

* * *

Delta squeezed herself out of the manhole, arriving at Tentakeel Outpost. The determined steps she had taken in the Square slowed to an uncertain stop; once Delta had arrived, she didn't know what to do.

"Oh thank cod." Marie poked her head out of Cuttlefish Cabin. "I thought you were an intruder. I wasn't expecting you to stop by so soon."

"Yeah." Delta smoothed out the rim of her black hoodie. "I needed some time to think, and…found my way here."

"I'm sorry." Marie's voice softened in sympathy. "I saw the match. You guys definitely would have had a chance if it weren't for your leg."

"The way I see it…" Delta made her way to the railing overlooking Suction Cup Lookout. "If I didn't play, the team would have DQ'd. If I didn't sign up for the Splatoon, there wouldn't have been a match to begin with."

"That's…very true." Marie rested her forearms on the railing next to Delta. "Inkopolis would have already been occupied well before now if it weren't for you." The ground under Delta's feet started to vibrate, and she looked down at the dirt as she heard the hum of a generator kicking in.

"Oh, yeah." Marie mumbled as she looked over at the power cables just past Cuttlefish Cabin. "Sheldon's here too. I had called him in to talk about something, and then…he decided to fiddle with the Cabin's wiring for some reason." Marie turned back to her agent. "How did you explain things to your team?"

"Uh," Delta let out an embarrassed huff. "Not…great; but I didn't spill the plankton. My buddy Dylan was really pressing me for an answer, but I was drawing a blank."

"Well, nothing is better than blowing the cover." Marie gave a shrug. "What did your friend think you were up to?"

"He thought the squid I was meeting with—" Delta jerked her head at Marie. "—was a boyfriend." Marie let out a sudden snort, shooting a hand to her mouth to hold back her laughter. Delta herself gave a snicker at the thought of Marie being a boyfriend. It was pretty funny in retrospect.

"Oh my cod." Marie muttered after a moment. "Of course he would. Did you figure out that he likes you yet?"

"You knew already?" Delta snapped her head towards her mentor, stunned.

"Well, yeah." Marie removed her hand, showing her sly half-smile. "I mean… it was obvious." Delta let out an agonized groan, burying her face in her hands as she leaned on the railing.

"I have the best idea ever!" Marie deepened her voice in her best Dylan impression, fluffing her parasol in front of her as if it was a Brella. "I'm going to ignore all this unclaimed turf and rush to Delta's side, valiantly defending her from any dastardly enemies that might be hiding in the ink! Oh my cod—" Marie let out a chuckle as she lowered her parasol, her voice returning to its normal pitch. "—it was hilarious to watch, lemme tell ya."

Delta only responded with an even louder groan.

"What do I do?" Delta lifted her head to spare a desperate, pleading look at her mentor.

"You like him back?" Marie put a hand on her hip, hooking a thumb on her kimono's belt.

"I don't know!" Delta threw her hands up in indecision, eyes wide with exasperation. "I-it was just so sudden, and we were in the middle of an argument, and-and I've known him all my life so if something—"

"You were startled." Marie gently explained, like an older sister calmly instructing a younger sibling. "Give it some time and think about it later, yeah?"

"…Yeah." Delta gave a small nod.

"Guys!" Sheldon nearly tumbled out of Cuttlefish Cabin. "You have to come see this!"

"What's wrong?" Marie was already moving toward the Cabin, her playful posture vanishing as her shoulders hunched into concern. Delta quickly followed behind her.

"Someone's on our radio frequency." Sheldon slid the door open for them. "It's definitely not funky static this time, they've been trying to hail us a few times now." Marie made a beeline for the radio on the desk, snatching it up and opting to pace around the Cabin instead of sitting down. Delta took the chair as Marie pushed the talk button.

"IT IS NOT SAFE!" Marie didn't even have the chance to talk. "LEAVE WHILE YOU CAN! JUST RUN AND DO NOT—RUN, RUN…RUN, RUN, RUN—…" Silence. Marie fiddled with the radio's buttons, then looked at Sheldon in confusion. The horsehoe crab shrugged; whatever had happened wasn't on their end.

"…Hello?" Marie ventured a response, and Delta could swear she heard the faint sound of a machine whirring through the transmitter. "Who's there?" There was a tense pause as more static popped through the radio.

"Hello, cousin." The caller finally spoke.

"…Callie?!" Marie's hand clenched the radio tighter, clinging to the only connection to her best friend. "Is that you? Are you okay? Did you escape or something? Where are you—"

"Who cares?" Callie—to everyone's surprise—spat back.

"…What?" Marie's tone was twisted into confusion. Delta's ears picked out a repeated clacking seeping through the receiver. "Cal, don't be ridiculous. Of course we care—"

"Did anyone care after the Splatfest?" Callie interrupted, and Delta craned her neck to listen a little more closely. Did she…pick up an Octarian accent? "No? Did not think so. You were doing great at your own thing, everyone loved you. I was not needed. Not for the Squid Sisters, and not for Inkopolis. Come on Marie, what are you chasing after me for? You are a huge name back in the city. You have everything you need there. Just go back and leave me alone, not like it is safe here anyway." A large, loud click popped through the radio—and suddenly everything made sense to Delta.

"Marie." Agent 4 jumped up to grab her superior's shoulder. "Hang up. Now."

"Callie…" Marie twisted away from Delta. "What's going on? What's wrong? You're not usually like this."

"I just told you!" Callie snapped back. Another loud click, followed by hushed voices. "Just go, it is not safe—"

Delta made her move. She twisted the radio from Marie's grasp and slammed it into the ground. Its casing popped open, letting the broken motherboard slide onto the Cabin's floor.

"What are you doing?!" Marie hissed as her frantic hands desperately tried to collect the remains of the radio.

"Marie." Delta knelt next to the Squid Sister, grabbing her shoulder and guiding her to the desk chair. "That was a trap. Listen to me for minute, okay? There's something I need to tell you, something that's been bothering me for a while. I wanted to be wrong, but that just proved I'm right."

Marie's golden eyes looked back up at Agent 4.

"You said there was no way the Octarians could have found the original Cabin on their own, right?" Delta began. "Cap'n Cuttlefish made sure the place was so remote and hard to survey they couldn't have stumbled across it by accident. Only members of the Splatoon knew where Octavio was. So how come the old Cabin got attacked?"

Marie said nothing.

"Someone had to tell them where it was." Delta continued. "And that someone had to be from the Splatoon."

"Oh, carp." Sheldon muttered from behind Delta.

"Think about it." Agent 4 took a deep breath, gathering the courage to break what she never wanted to break to Marie. "Agent 3 and Cap'n Cuttlefish have been away since before this even happened. Sheldon and I weren't even members of the Splatoon at the time. And you were out of the city. But where was Callie?"

Marie shut her eyes tight, and the tiny muscles in her cheeks trembled in pain.

"You have to face it." Delta gently pleaded. "Callie is the only one who could have possibly told them."

"No!" Marie's vehement voice lashed out, unable to face the pain any longer. "She couldn't. She _wouldn't_. She's family, there's no way she'd talk."

"Marie." Delta calmly kept her hand on the Squid Sister's shoulder, her voice staying level. "I know it hurts to consider. But we have to be reasonable; it's a possibility we can't ignore."

"I know my cousin!" Marie snapped, but her tone held more desperation than aggression. "She would never betray the Splatoon, she…she…"

"We don't know why." Delta took her hand off in surrender. "We don't have the whole picture. Maybe Callie's got good reason. Maybe it's against her will. But until we know what's going on, we can't trust Callie."

"COD DAMN IT ALL TO SQUIT!" A sudden bang on the desk pulled Delta's attention away from Marie. She turned around to find Sheldon leaning over the table, hands squeezing the chair in an iron grip.

"…What's wrong?" Delta ventured a question.

"...All the radio problems we've been having." Sheldon relaxed his grip, turning around to look at Delta. "It was never CPOD interference to begin with. I should have known. I _did_ know—and I didn't trust myself, damn it."

"If it wasn't CPOD interference," Delta replied through the knot in her stomach. "Then what was it?"

"It was actual radio calls." Sheldon replied slowly. "They knew our frequency existed from the start, but probably not the specifics. Each attempt to contact us got clearer and clearer as they narrowed down the hertz range. And once they found a strong enough signal, like they just did—" Sheldon jammed a cross chop into his hand. "They could use the frequency to triangulate our location if the call went on for long enough. That was the clicks we heard in the background."

"That's why Callie was waiting on the other end." Delta realized, eyes widening. "To bait Marie into staying on the line long enough for them to find us. Do you think they had enough time just now?"

"Almost definitely." Sheldon brought a hand up to scratch his shell. "Yeah, they're probably mustering to attack us as we speak. We gotta do something; I can't believe I didn't see that sooner."

"It's okay." Delta muttered back, her gaze turning back to Marie. "All of us just got played for fools."

"I mean..." Sheldon took his hand off his shell, letting out a stressed huff. "If it's any consolation, this would have happened sooner if it weren't for the batteries that kept falling out the stupid faulty back. But we're still in serious trouble now. If that attack regiment reaches this Cabin, it's all over." Sheldon glanced at Marie, then looked at Delta. "What do we do?"

"How much time do we have before they get here?" Delta pursed her lip.

"Probably an hour." Sheldon answered, wringing his hands. "Tops." Delta cast a quick glance at her mentor. Marie had her hands over her mouth, staring blankly into space. The strategist hadn't uttered a word since Delta's talk, and even though they needed her ideas—Marie looked like she couldn't have been farther from her tactics.

"She's not in the right mind to figure this out right now." Delta muttered to Sheldon. "I'm gonna step outside 'cause I'm the one that broke the news. Hopefully I can come up with an idea in fifteen minutes that can stop them in forty-five." Delta let out a stressed huff, moving toward the door.

"Stay here." Delta paused, pointing a finger toward Sheldon. "Don't leave her alone right now." Delta stepped out of Cuttlefish Cabin and into Tentakeel Outpost, sliding the door closed behind her.

* * *

Delta's departure had left Sheldon with a worried stare, but Marie couldn't bring herself to care. Her mind was whirring with thoughts that she could hardly fathom. Marie had grown up with Callie, They had spent almost every day of their childhood together. She trusted her cousin without question, and would have placed the fate of the entire city in Callie's hands without a single doubt. And Delta claimed that trust was misplaced? Her agent's logic was sound, but its implications didn't make sense. Marie knew Callie better than anyone, she knew how important the Splatoon was to the pink squid. Callie wouldn't dream of betraying her own family…right? Marie ran a stressed hand through her tentacles. She needed more to go off of than just Delta's interpretation. She needed a tangible thread, starting with something like…

…The glitter.

Oh cod…the glitter. Marie had seen it in the first kettle Delta ever attacked, and then the second, and the third, fourth, fifth, sixth…the Splatoon had gone through almost forty-four kettles—and the ink in every single one shimmered with glitter. It was everywhere they went, everywhere Marie looked, and she didn't even think twice about it. Glitter never even existed in Octo Valley two years ago, but Octo Canyon was covered in it. The Octarians were a serious, militaristic and scientific society—glamming up their hideout simply wasn't their MO.

But it was Callie's. Callie decorated things wherever she went, and she loved glitter to death. Octo Canyon's aesthetic didn't fit the Octarians, but it fit Callie like a shell fit a hermit crab. It was painfully obvious; and not the only hint Marie should have seen well beforehand. Only Callie would have put glitter in ink. Only Callie would scribble a tic-tac-toe game onto the floor of a military base—and tie with herself. Only Callie would paint little squids into a walkway to a sector's power server…and label it "power server." Only Callie would paint X's on squid signs to make a "no Inklings allowed" joke. There was no way Callie would have been doing any of that if she was locked up in a cell. Callie hadn't been a traditional prisoner at all.

She was an internal spy.

The use of spies was arguably the most important chapter in Gramps' book, in fact its original author felt it was so crucial he had saved it for last. An internal spy was a serious problem, because they could spill even the most guarded of secrets with ease. They were elite members close to the general, brought over to the other side and persuaded to talk. And that was exactly how the Octarians were able to attack Octo Valley's Cabin. How many times had Marie read and reread Gramps' book? ...How many times had she failed to connect those dots?

There was one more thing that kept bothering Marie. She reached into her kimono's pocket and pulled out her shellphone. Marie opened Turquoise October's sound files, not bothering to grab her headphones. She didn't have the energy to care if Sheldon could hear it. She tapped on Shooting Starfish, waiting for the shimmering synth to pass. The first vocals flew by, and Marie rewound the song back to the singer's entry. She listened to them again, and rewound again. The sympathetic grimace on Sheldon's face told Marie that he had noticed it too.

Marie couldn't believe she didn't realize it before. The singer's voice might have been warped and distorted, but it was obviously Callie. She was Turquoise October's new singer, and her voice was in every song of their latest album.

So that was why. That was why the decorations in each sector threw Marie off so much. Every time Delta had started work in a new sector, Marie had gotten this…deep-seated writhing in her gut, but her brain couldn't make heads nor tails of what was wrong. Her mind could hardly understand that something was even wrong, leaving her to lock up multiple times. Sheldon had noticed it, Delta had noticed it, but Marie could only pass it off as some random daydream and continue with the mission. But the reasons for her lapses in attention were obvious now. Detective Alex was right; Marie had been in denial the whole time.

It wasn't about the possibility of Callie's death, but she was in denial about her suspicious behavior. The warning signs had been present since the first attack in Octo Valley, and Marie's mind did everything it could to avoid the obvious. The attack just two days after her disappearance, Callie's voice in the latest Turquoise October songs, the glitter in the ink, all the uncharacteristic decorations in each sector, Callie's role in the Octarian radio trap... Delta was right; the evidence was overwhelming and couldn't be ignored, no matter how much it hurt. And it _hurt_ —more than a serrated machete slicing straight through her soul—but there was an entire city in jeopardy; and Marie had dragged Delta and Sheldon into this mess. There were countless lives on the line that weren't hers, and they deserved better than to be cut short just because Marie couldn't face the music. She had overheard Delta and Sheldon's conversation; the Octarians were on their way, and they needed her help to stop them. Her pain—her grief—would have to wait.

Marie pulled the purple-sleeved book from her kimono's inner pouch. She took a moment to run her thumb against the purple fabric, grateful for the minute solace the ancient text gave. Marie pulled the book open, and the text fell open to page sixteen. Her eyes fell on a passage, and Marie had to weather another wince. Even the book knew more about the Octarian attack than she did:

"… _Though an obstinate fight may be made by a small force, in the end it must be captured by the larger force._ "

So the book had predicted Marie's mistake all along. Try as much as she might, the Splatoon was still vastly inferior to the Octarian military in terms of size. It was three against thousands; there was no contest. Marie could try to outwit and finesse around them as much as she wanted, but the Octarians would inevitably catch on. Marie hadn't read the book closely enough, which was a mistake Judd had tried to warn her about from the very beginning:

" _Heed its words and you will never know peril. Ignore its advice and only death and destruction await you."_

The Splatoon was going to be captured—there was no way around that. But… somehow Gramps had managed to succeed against the Octarians two years ago, without having to bolster the Splatoon's ranks too much. He might have had three active agents whereas Marie could only use one, but an army of four was still minuscule against thousands. Gramps had still managed to defeat Octavio, and the whole Splatoon had come out unscathed. There was a loophole in the book's rule…somewhere. Marie just had to find it.

She started to look around the Cabin, scanning for any source of inspiration. The wind had kicked up outside, sending a draft under the door and nearly kicking a paper off the table. Marie scooped it up, giving it another read. The page was an old Octarian message from earlier in the campaign, but the last line jumped out at her:

" _Notify pyrotechnics that they will also be handing out the civilian invitations—DJ Octavio wants a big turnout, and sending the fire girls sends a message._ "

That was right… Octavio had been craving a performance, and he hadn't gotten one. How much would Marie want to bet that he was still looking for a good moment in the spotlight? Marie's eyebrows raised in realization, and her fingers were quickly thumbing through the chapter on tactics:

" _To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself._ "

Marie's fingers closed the book ever so slightly, her mind whirring with ideas. Sun Tzu's text had demanded that the Splatoon would be captured, but…the book had stopped there. It had specifically said "captured," not "destroyed." Was there any way Marie could turn the Splatoon's capture into Octavio's final mistake? She quickly turned to the chapter on the nine situations, looking for anything powerful enough that she could use. Dispersive ground? No. Serious ground? Nope. Difficult ground? Not enough potential. Marie's eyes fell on the last of the nine situations, finding the only answer she wasn't hoping for. She had purposely avoided it while guiding Delta through Octo Canyon, holding it in reserve only as a last resort. It was too volatile, too risky otherwise; one single misstep and Marie would have ordered Delta to her death—and all of Inkopolis would have died with her.

But…there was no doubt it was the last piece of Marie's puzzle. Nothing else in the book came close to its efficiency and strength, and Marie theorized that Delta's attitude would make the tactic even stronger. And the Octarians were nearly knocking on their door—if there was ever a time for a last resort, it would be now.

Marie let out a deep, heavy sigh. She had an idea that would work, even if she didn't like it. Delta would kill her for proposing it, _if_ she lived through it. Marie gathered the last remnants of her strength, pushing herself off her chair to find Delta and fill her in. Marie had left the book on the table, its pages flipping over from the absence of fingers to hold them down. The text finally settled on one last line:

"… _For you should not press a desperate foe too hard._ "

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who's read, reviewed, favorited, and followed so far! This is a hugely important chapter, and nearly killed my brain lol. I must have spent five days on the opening of that flashback alone; I honestly didn't know it was possible to rewrite the same five paragraphs _so…many…times_. And after writing out the rest of this chapter, my brain is mush. I'm going to give it a rest and hold off on Chapter 16 until I get back from traveling. I might be a workhorse, but I know when I need a break haha. In the meantime, hope you enjoyed and here are a couple notes about the chapter:**

 **Callie's opening lines in the radio call are actually an example of thought disorder. That's a language/cognition issue that's most often seen in schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Basically Callie's thought process went through a pretty nasty hiccup at the neurological level…spooky stuff. The mention of a machine whirring right afterwards is also important…**

 **All the evidence used in the scene where Marie realizes what Callie has done are previously mentioned, innocent-looking details from earlier chapters. I made sure the hints were always there, and just never had Marie connect the dots. Most of them should be in the prologue, chapters 2, 9, 10, 12, and 13 if you want to see for yourself. The same goes for three of the quoted lines where Marie starts to form her strategy: Judd's warning, the Octarian message, and the quoted text about the opportunity to defeat the enemy can be found in chapters 1, 10, and 7 respectively. The two previous Octarian radio attacks were in chapters 6 and 10. As you can probs tell, I've been building towards this chapter the whole time—and I've got more hidden secrets up my sleeve.**

 **Credit for the quotations from the book go to James Clavell for its translation, and Sun Tzu for its writing. The polls on both sites were nearly unanimous, so I went ahead and dropped both the book's title and author. Marie's book is the Art of War, one of my absolute favorite books ever.**


	17. Chapter 16

"Delta." Marie weakly called for her agent, planting her weighted body on the bench just outside the Cabin. "Come here."

"What's up?" Delta appeared in Marie's vision as Agent 4 knelt in front of her mentor, and Marie could pick out a faint glimmer of concern behind the determined fire in her agent's eyes.

"I have an idea on how to get us through this." Marie spoke slowly, carefully picking her words. "But I need you to listen...very, very closely."

"Okay?" Delta shifted her weight to her knee and settled her shoulders, unsure. "I'm here."

"This plan is far more dangerous than anything I've ever used before." Marie began. "It puts you straight in the face of death without an ounce of safety in sight. There is no super jumping out. There is no plan for retreat. There is no extraction point. There's no escape at all, and no plan for rescue." Marie took a breath. "The only way out is through the Octarians themselves. Your only chance of survival is fighting as if you have none."

Delta closed her eyes and her shoulders rose as she took a deep breath, but said nothing.

"You will be the bait, trap, and attack all at once." Marie looked at the sky as she cracked into the details of her strategy. "The regiment sent to attack us will likely come from the muster station above Slimeskin Garrison…remember when I pointed it out?"

Delta nodded, reopening her eyes.

"To keep them from ever reaching here…" Marie continued, returning her gaze. "You are going to attack them first."

"Me." Delta echoed, pointing an unsure finger at her chest. "Alone. Against a fully staffed muster station."

"You're not looking to win." Marie clarified. "Octavio craves a show more than anything. If you're captured, I'll bet my entire career that station will receive orders to bring you straight to him. While the troops are busy with their new mission, Sheldon and I can evacuate the Zapfish back to Ammo Knights again."

"I can't bring everything back to the shop this time." Sheldon appeared in the Cabin's doorway. "There's far too many Zapfish now. You'll have to make do with the storehouse offsite." Marie looked at him, tilting her head in an ever-so-slight nod of approval.

"They'd be bringing me deep into Cephalon HQ, wouldn't they?" Delta asked, thinking out loud. "They might as well be turning off the barrier and welcoming us right in."

"Exactly." Marie turned back to Delta. "The barrier will come back on behind you, but by then it's too late. Our operative—disguised as a captive prisoner—will have already infiltrated the headquarters."

"And what do you want me to do in there?" Delta shifted her weight to both knees.

"They'll bring you right to Octavio himself." Marie answered. "For him to publicly execute you. That's when you break free…and shoot him."

"Just…break free." Delta echoed again. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"Sheldon." Marie's eyes shifted to the horseshoe crab in a sideways glance. "Can you make a sub weapon that's both easily concealed and able to detonate without an ink tank?"

"Uh…" Sheldon took a moment to think. "…Yeah, I think I can do that."

"I can alter your jacket so you can hide the bomb." Marie turned her attention back to Delta. "One of your guards should have the rest of your stuff, so make sure you use it on them. Once you're free, take out Octavio and the Great Zapfish should be nearby." She exhaled a breath. "Any questions before we start?"

"So I'm guessing there _was_ a point to making that thing as luminescent as it could be?" Delta smiled at her lighthearted joke, pointing at her blindingly yellow Hero Suit on the bench next to the newspapers. Marie's eyes squeezed tight as she had to suppress a chuckle—it was a good attempt to lighten the mood.

"Shush." Marie snickered back. "You didn't have to look like a disgruntled construction worker for a whole year, so you don't get to complain."

* * *

Delta pulled her shellphone out of her pocket to check the time. There were only ten minutes left until departure, but Delta's brain was on an entirely different clock. Thousands of thoughts flew by in a matter of milliseconds—and not many of them were optimistic. Marie's plan was asking for a lot; Delta thought it would be a miracle just to survive the assault on the muster station…let alone escape captivity and splat Octavio in front of his troops. An entire ten minutes of anxiety would have been agony; so Agent 4 had decided to watch the horde of Zapfish frolic around in their tank. She could remember when saving four felt like a feat, and Delta was staring at over forty of them. The amount of progress the Splatoon had made was nothing short of astounding—what was once little more than a pipe dream was almost within reach. Cephalon HQ had felt impossibly impenetrable when Delta was first recruited... yet there she was counting down the minutes to its invasion.

"Hey." Marie's head poked through the doorway, Delta's yellow Hero Suit draped over the green squid's arm. "How you holdin' up?"

"Okay." Delta rubbed her hands against her black leggings. "You?" Marie didn't say anything, opting to sit next to Delta instead.

"I finished altering your jacket." Marie unfolded the Hero Suit, grasping at its left sleeve to show Delta. "I made a tiny little pocket on the inside of the sleeve, just past the cuff." Marie turned the sleeve inside out, revealing a short zipper embedded into the fabric. "The Octarians will probably pat you down when they catch you, but if you're already cuffed then another pocket near your wrist should be easy to miss. Especially if it's basically empty."

"Except for the bomb." Delta interjected.

"Yeah, well…" Marie unrolled the sleeve. "I'm hoping Sheldon can come up with something small enough to go unnoticed." Marie's words hung in the air, and Delta pursed her lips at the weighted silence that had fallen between agent and mentor.

"But anyway…" Marie undid the Hero Suit's main zipper after a long pause, opening the jacket up. "I added something else. Remember this thing?" She unzipped the inside pouch that would rest over Delta's hearts, and Agent 4 raised her eyebrows in recognition; it was where Marie had stowed the fake message about Octarian traitors in Delta's first mission. She had completely forgotten about it.

"I decided it was the perfect place for a little encouragement." Marie pulled something from the pocket, and Delta's eyes widened in recognition. She reached out to take the tiger lily from Marie, gently tracing a thumb along its electric blue petals.

"It's still holding on…" Delta gave a breathy chuckle before her mouth curled into a heartfelt smile. "After all this time."

"Well, that might have to do with a certain superior who found it in your pocket and put it in a vase for you." Marie cracked a half-smile. "But yes, it's still kicking—just like you are. Think of it as a good luck charm, not just from me…" Marie jerked her head towards the Zapfish tank. "…but also from the ones who gave it to you in the first place."

"Thanks." Delta gave Marie a one-armed hug before gently tucking the tiger lily back into the inside pocket. Delta stood and removed her black hoodie, carefully pulling the yellow jacket over her white V-neck. She zipped it up, and the inside pouch settled over her hearts. Light footfalls padded to a stop, and Delta looked over her shoulder to find Sheldon standing in the doorway-black suitcase in hand.

"Hey, Sheldon." Marie rose from her seat. "What have you got for us?"

"Well!" Sheldon burst into a wide grin, excitedly propping the suitcase on the bench to reach into his brown apron's pocket. "You squidkids are lucky that I can work so well under pressure. This thing is _super_ cool…" He pulled out a tiny, lime green tetrahedron—about half the size of Delta's palm.

"…That's it?" Delta leaned in to look at the miniature splat bomb. "Is that even gonna splat anyone when it goes off?"

"It'll splat you, your mother, everyone you've ever loved, and anyone you've ever looked at." The crab nonchalantly tossed the minibomb over his shoulder—and the ground behind him burst into lime green ink with a sharp pop.

"I paired it to Marie's ink tank so it could run a demo." Sheldon burst into a proud grin. "It's got just as much ink as a splat bomb; I used a charger's compression chamber to condense all the ink into a more compact container—and the added pressure should make it even more powerful."

"Which…charger?" Marie crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at the horseshoe crab.

"A-anyway!" Sheldon nearly dove for the black suitcase to dodge Marie's suspicion. "I have something else!" He unbuckled the case's locks, reaching inside to pull the weapon out for Agent 4 to see.

"Is that…" Delta gingerly took the submachine shooter, running a thumb over the new Hero Shot's handle.

"I know you don't like me handling your weapon." Sheldon gave a knowing smile, scratching the back of his shell. "But it was due for an upgrade, and I had a couple ideas. I increased its magazine size and streamlined its automaticity, so it should fire much faster. Then I strengthened its firing chamber to the point where it needed another stock, and—not to brag, but—it's honestly the best shooter I've ever built. Plus—" Sheldon paused to draw a breath, taking his hand off his shell. "—you said you liked the yellow, so I painted it back to its original color scheme."

"Sheldon…" Delta lifted the Hero Shot to test its aim, and the yellow stock perfectly nestled itself into her shoulder. It was made for her, and earning a specially customized weapon was a huge honor back home. "…Thank you."

"You're welcome!" Sheldon beamed back. "I figured you were gonna need every edge you could get." Delta's beak slipped into an unsure smile, finding comfort in the new weapon's grip.

"Yeah, speaking of…" Marie cleared her throat. "We don't have that much time left—so we gotta get this mission started. Let's suit up, one last time." The crabflies in Delta's stomach returned with a vengeance, and she tightened her grip on the Hero Shot like it was her lifeline.

It was time.

Sheldon and Marie escorted the nervous agent outside the Cabin, preparing to see her off. Sheldon had carried her ink tank with him, and held it for Delta to slide her arms through the straps. Marie set the Hero Boots down in front of Agent 4 before slipping her hand into her kimono's inside pocket.

"Which color do you want this time?" Delta tugged the boots on, kneeling down to tie the red laces. Sheldon held the red button on her tank, waiting to pair the minibomb.

"Emerald." Marie replied. "Should be the most potent."

Agent 4 took a deep, calming breath, willing the tank to fill with green. Sheldon took his hand off the button, circling around to Delta's front to slip the emerald minibomb into her wrist pocket. Marie fitted the Hero Headphones over Agent 4's head, then held out the camera contacts for her to take.

"Now remember." Marie paused, holding Delta's radio mic. "Our frequency isn't safe anymore; the Octarians will be listening to our every word. So I don't want a single peep out of either of you about the real plan. As far as we know, the attack on the station is just that—a panicked, misguided offense. Understood?"

"Understood." Delta nodded, and Sheldon held out his pinky finger. Marie shot him a withering glare, and the crab quickly hid his hands behind his back.

"All right." Marie turned the mic on, clipping it to Delta's yellow collar. She grabbed her agent by the shoulders, offering an encouraging smile. "You're ready. Knock 'em dead. Literally."

"Heh." Delta allowed a chuckle at Marie's joke. "Thanks." She scooped up her Hero Shot, turning towards the little black tower just past Slimeskin Garrison.

"See you on the other side!" Delta looked over her shoulder to find Sheldon waving at her. She smiled back, welcoming his encouragement before morphing into a squid and Super Jumping her way her way to the muster station.

* * *

The black dot grew larger and larger as Delta's mantle sailed towards the muster station, and she quickly morphed into kid form to land next to the outpost's scaffolding. A cursory glance around told her no one was watching the perimeter—Agent 4 assumed whatever commotion that was going on above her required all hands on deck.

Delta quickly advanced to the nearest steel leg, taking advantage of the station's brief lapse in vigilance. She looked up at the building's underside, hoping for a discreet way in. The architecture was similar to a water tower; eight steel beams suspended the fortified cylinder two stories high, and Delta saw no entrance from the ground. Judging from the UFO hovering next to the cylinder's roof, Agent 4 figured the only way into the station was from above.

"Ah carp, that makes sense." Marie's voice sounded like she read Delta's thoughts. "They could just Super Jump to the roof. That's why there's no guards down here—there's no door to guard." Delta took a deep breath, staring up at the steel beam in front of her. She clipped her Hero Shot to her ink tank, and backed a yard away from the beam.

"And it looks like most of the cephalopower is up there, too." Sheldon added over unrecognizable shouts. "I'll bet that UFO they're preparing is the one that's coming for us. Jumping up there would be an insta-splat." Delta charged at the beam, repelling a leg off the black steel before hugging the pillar.

"And…I guess that's one way to get up there." Marie let out a sigh. "You sure you're not gonna tire yourself out before the fight even starts?"

"It's no worse than climbing a tree." Delta wrapped her legs around the beam and started pulling herself up—hand over hand. "Relax. I did this all the time back home."

Delta scrunched herself past the slim maintenance catwalk lining the outside of the station's first floor. Her eyes found a window to her right, and Agent 4 searched for enemy movement as she shifted her weight to the catwalk. She found none—just metal canisters and crates of unused weapons. Delta unclipped her Hero Shot and smashed the window with its stock, hoping the rumble of the UFO's engine drowned most of the noise. She slipped through the opening and dropped into a crouch, her boots crunching on shards of shattered glass.

"Nothing yet…" Marie mumbled as Delta slinked into cover behind a half-opened box of unused splat bombs. "That's surprising—" Marie's comment was drowned out by a throttling roar, and Delta dashed back to the window to find purple flames bursting out of the UFO's exhaust vents.

"It's about to take off!" Delta didn't need to hear Sheldon's frantic voice to know they were in trouble. "Agent 4, you gotta stop it! Now!"

"On it!" Delta spun back towards the storage room, looking for something to use. Her eyes landed on the crate of splat bombs, and she ran to grab one. Delta nearly shoved her body out the window before hurling the tetrahedron at the UFO's underside.

The sub weapon slid into the exhaust vent, and the heat from the UFO's engine detonated the bomb. The explosion shredded the vent into scraps of twisted metal—and the UFO listed to the side with a deep, metallic moan. Delta could hear panicked shouts as she watched Octolings leap off the slanted disc and onto the station's roof, frantically abandoning the doomed aircraft. The UFO sputtered out one last wail before it slid into the Canyon's basin, and Agent 4 could pick out a flash of red and blue as it exploded against the rock wall.

"Holy…" Sheldon breathed. "Carp…"

"How much you wanna bet they know we're here now?" Marie was quick to recover from the UFO's magnificent death. "Get ready, Four—you're about to have company."

Delta pursed her lips as she surveyed the rest of the storage room, opting to squat behind the steel canisters for cover. She knew a firefight near enemy weaponry was a bad idea; one wayward shot was all it would take for an entire box of sub weapons to explode at her. Agent 4 would have slipped into another room if she hadn't heard four footsteps already pounding down the stairs.

"Squit…" Delta muttered under her breath as she clicked the safety off her Hero Shot. There was no time to run, but she could hold her ground if there were only two soldiers sent to investigate. Delta distractedly traced a finger over the canister's label, reading "flunitrazepam(aq)." She gingerly tapped the container, relieved to hear a hollow tone reverberate back—at least the Inkling didn't have to worry about weird chemicals spewing at her. Delta ducked further below the canisters as more footsteps tumbled down the stairs.

There weren't just two of them.

Delta counted at least six—definitely more than she could handle given her surroundings. The footsteps came closer, and Agent 4 could make out indecipherable voices through the wall. They were about to come in.

Delta pursed her lips as every muscle in her body screamed at her to run, fight back, do something—anything. But she instead fought her protesting thumbs, and flicked her weapon's safety back on. The voices stopped, and it wasn't long before the door swung open.

"Don't shoot!" Delta held both hands above the canister, hoping someone could understand her. "Don't shoot, I surrender!"

Eight Octo Shots snapped toward Delta's chest, and the Octoling just past her cover lifted her hand in a fist.

"Hands on your head." The soldier barked. Delta complied, and her face hit the floor. The Octoling on top of her pulled Agent 4's ink tank off—Hero Shot and all. She grabbed Delta's hands and twisted them behind her back, and Delta heard the familiar zip of a cable tie.

"Up." The Octoling yanked the agent to her feet, holding her by the arm as she waited for the other two soldiers to finish talking. The one across Delta smacked the empty canister before replying to the other soldier, who quieted down—Delta assumed the first soldier had to be the senior rank. The superior looked back at the soldier holding Delta, pointing at the door while barking in Octolish. The group started moving out the door, officer taking point while the other six filed around Delta.

"You…" The Octoling holding Agent 4 whispered to her captive, who nearly groaned as she recognized the scout's voice. "You are very stupid."

"You…" Delta muttered back. "…Are everywhere."

"I am Agent 4 expert." Ayla smirked as they climbed the first flight of stairs. "The closest to beating you. So I am placed everywhere." She wiggled Delta's arm, and the Inkling fell silent.

The troop reached the roof, and Delta was led straight to an Octoling with black tentacles. The leader of the troop rendered a salute, and the two strings of green kelp behind the Octoling's ears shook as she returned the gesture. The two spoke in Octolish, and Delta watched Ayla straighten her posture from the corner of her eye. Delta swallowed her mounting apprehension. This Octoling had to be a big fish in the military; and Delta had to face her alone and unarmed.

The troop leader stepped aside, and the Octoling turned her black shades to Delta. The rest of the soldiers slid out of her way as her combat boots quickly closed the distance to the prisoner. Delta kept quiet, silently waiting as the commander's chin inched up and down—sizing the Inkling up. She snapped her fingers and barked a foreign order. Ayla's hand slipped off Delta's arm and Agent 4 stiffened as she felt hands pat at her shoulders. She kept her gaze on the ground as the hands moved down to her elbows…then her waist. Delta held her sigh of relief as the soldier finished searching her legs, then gave a satisfied reply to the commander. They had missed the minibomb.

"So you finally caught more shrimp than you could chew." The commander's Inklish was nearly perfect—a stark contrast to Ayla's broken attempts. "You went out with a bang, though. That UFO had not only half our cargo, but it would have had a good amount of my girls if engineering didn't catch on in time." The commander paused, the red dot on her shades boring into Delta as if it expected an answer. Agent 4 stayed quiet, not wanting to say the wrong thing and jeopardize Marie's plan.

"Well." The commander snapped her fingers again, and two soldiers pushed Delta to her knees. "Usually the protocol would be to bring you to HQ for processing, but we already know you're an NSS agent. And the rest of the Board isn't around, so I get to make this decision." The Octoling grabbed Ayla's Octo Shot and clicked its safety off, aiming the shooter at Delta. "And I say an agent like you isn't worth keeping alive."

Delta thought she heard Ayla's voice in protest, but she was too busy staring down the barrel of the Octo Shot to care. The commander started talking back to Ayla, who drooped her head and stepped back into the crowd. Black shades turned back to Delta…

…Only to snap towards the Octoling frantically forcing his way through the crowd. He ran up to the commander, resting his hands on the pants of his technician's uniform to catch his breath. They exchanged words Delta couldn't understand, and the commander looked up at the sky—exhaling a deep, annoyed breath.

"Good news, agent." The commander lowered Ayla's Octo Shot. "There might be some use for you yet."

* * *

The Octolings had held Delta on the roof for another twenty minutes until another UFO docked at the station. Agent 4 was quickly shoved onto the floating disc with a handful of soldiers as her escort. The UFO detached from the roof, smoothly gliding its way to the Canyon's basin below. The crew stayed silent—some watching the rock formations sail by, one inspecting Delta's Hero Shot and ink tank, others watching the captive herself. Ayla opted to stay quiet rather than resume their banter, and Delta didn't force the issue.

The UFO reached the bottom of the Canyon after another twenty minutes, flying just above the water's surface. But Delta wasn't sure it even _was_ water—the runny fluid bled a deep purple no healthy liquid should. A black mess of buildings quickly poked out of the purple mist, and the silver steel of the UFO slowed to a stop just before a shimmer in the air. An Octoling spoke into their radio, and the shimmer collapsed into the lake with a deepening hum. The barrier was down, and the aircraft slid its way to the black structures below.

Cephalon HQ was as alien as a schizophrenic's nightmare. Metallic, artificial lights outlined otherwise obscured steel islands. Harsh reds, xenon blues, and chloride yellows stung Delta's eyes as the UFO docked at a square platform. The Inkling was quickly ushered off the aircraft and onto the dimly lit steel. Delta's Hero Boots crunched on paper, and she looked down to find an obsessive mess of stickers at her feet. They looked like nametags, except each name was nothing more than frustrated, unintelligible scribbles. Agent 4 looked up at the night sky, her blue eyes tracing the faint outline of Tentakeel Outpost far above her. A whirring hum shook throughout the headquarters, and the outpost quickly disappeared behind the shimmering barrier. Delta was alone, cut off from Marie and Sheldon.

A larger, more oblong saucer hovered towards the central platform, humming itself to a stop. The prisoner and her escort boarded the UFO before it took off, and it wasn't long until Delta's ears picked out the collective chants of an Octarian crowd. The UFO started its descent above a massive, circular stadium—and Delta could pick out hundreds of purple and emerald light sticks in the stands, waving in unison with the audience's chanting. The UFO slid lower and lower, closer and closer, until it settled next to a slim, steel walkway just above the stadium's stage.

Agent 4 looked up to watch the barrier glisten over the stadium, but someone tapped Delta on the shoulder. She looked over to find it was Ayla. The Octoling held a radio transceiver in her hand, switching it on with a flick of her thumb.

"Hooked to the big sound." Ayla tried to explain. "So we hear what your friends think of show." She lowered the transceiver. "I watch too, but you get best seat."

Ayla and two others morphed into their octopus forms, Super Jumping into the audience. The remaining two soldiers grabbed Delta by the arms, yanking her off the saucer and onto the walkway. One took her Hero Shot and ink tank from the others behind her as they began to walk the prisoner along the walkway under the unrelenting shouts of the crowd.

It wasn't a long distance, but each step on the plank felt infinitesimal before the two massive monitors televising Delta's walk for all to see. She spared a glance to her left as a floating audience booth inched by, the red dots from their shades swinging back and forth as the Octolings kept up with the chant.

 _Thump._

A collective stomp shook the plank. Delta took another step.

 _Shout._

Hundreds of Octolings yelled in unison. Delta took another step.

 _Thu-thum-thump._

More stomps. Another step.

 _Shout._

Step.

The two soldiers jumped off the edge of the plank, pulling Delta down with them. Agent 4 tumbled off the edge, falling toward the Great Octoweapon arena below.

* * *

"…Hey, Marie?" Sheldon's hesitant voice sounded from behind the Squid Sister.

"Yeah?" Marie shoved the last Zapfish into the warehouse's storage room.

"I, uh…" The horseshoe crab paused. "I think you should see this."

Marie turned around and walked toward the desk. Sheldon squeaked out of the chair and pulled it back for her to sit in. Her silver brows furrowed as she readjusted the laptop's screen, confused over why the chanting had suddenly stopped. Delta had safely landed on the surface of the stadium, so why was everything…quiet?

What Delta was looking at gave Marie the answer.

It wasn't the puddle of purple ink that made Marie's stomach drop. It wasn't the black structure in the center. It wasn't the spotlights trained on the figure standing in the middle. It wasn't the LED backdrop behind her. It wasn't the arch of stereo speakers above her. It was only the back of the figure's head that made Marie's breath catch in her throat, and her golden eyes widen.

She'd recognize that black-tentacled bowtie anywhere.

* * *

 **A/N: Hold on to your tentacles...**


	18. Finale

"CALLIE?" Delta heard Marie cry out, a mix of disbelief and desperation booming through the radio. The atmosphere was dead silent as Callie turned at the sound of her name. The twist of her torso was slow and strangely precise, and the click of her heels echoed throughout the arena.

Delta was able to get a good look at the rogue agent once she had turned around. The tips of her black tentacles had mutated from their normal magenta to the Octarian purple. Her arms were folded across a black and shiny crop top, and her open midriff betrayed a brand-new octopus tattoo just above her left hip. A pair of sleek, black sunglasses hung over Callie's eyes—snaking around ears adorned with golden earrings. Agent 4 watched a speck of light shoot across Callie's shades, making her realize there were LED lights implanted into the tinted glass. Delta resisted the urge to squirm under Callie's catatonic, eyeless stare. The silence was growing louder.

"I told you to leave." Callie's curt voice sliced through the air, devoid of the iconic joviality she was known for. The shades sparkled as dots of purple, green and blue flashed into spreading diamonds—making eyes for her. Delta swore she heard a scratching sound from deep underneath the purple ink below Callie.

"Hey, DJ!" Callie shot a finger towards the ceiling. The pattern on her shades cut to flashing arrows, adding red and white to the cocktail of colors. Delta craned her neck ever so slightly, wondering what the carp was wrong. This couldn't be normal. Right?

Delta couldn't finish her thought because the ground began to shudder. The floor under Callie rose and rose until Agent 4 came to the realization that Marie's cousin wasn't standing on a floor at all. She was atop a stage, suspended above an ornate dj's den. A bulbous mass of tentacles sat inside, his beady green eyes watching Agent 4 through the slits in his golden shutter glasses. The giant…thing kept rising until it lifted off the ground, and Delta watched as a massive Zapfish writhed beneath the robot's underside. It lost its panicked battle against the giant machine, and was sucked into the robot's engine. Marie's plan had worked—Agent 4 was right in front of both Octavio and the Great Zapfish.

"Octavio in da houuuuuse!" DJ Octavio bellowed as his speakers blared a deep honk. He jabbed a stalk of wasabi into the air as the crowd roared in excitement, his tentacle betraying the same glowing green scar from every Octoweapon. Callie re-folded her arms and locked eyes with Delta. There was no smile, no furrowed brow, no bright-eyed gaze—any hint of emotion was hauntingly absent from the pop star's face.

"Callie…" Marie's voice was heavy with betrayal. "…Why?"

"Heh." Octavio was first to reply. "Tell her, Callie!" The octopus scratched his wasabi stalk along his neon green turntables. Another speck of light flashed across Callie's shades.

"Inkopolis isn't the same anymore." Callie's shades were back to their diamond eyes, her voice disturbingly flat. "No one cares anymore. The Squid Sisters ended with the Splatfest."

"The last Battle of the Beats might have ended in your favor." Octavio added. "But it was so good for publicity! I can't even begin to count how many of my remixes sold after that fight."

Delta began to feel for the inside pocket inside her sleeve. Callie's appearance threw a conch in the plan, but Agent 4 still needed to get her hands free if she had any hope of surviving.

"So I thought—why not have another one?" Octavio continued, not noticing Delta's hands behind her back. "Except this time, I made sure there was no way I could lose. Try singing your song now, Marie. Try fighting back now, you slimy little hipster."

Delta found it. She slowly unzipped the pouch, taking care not to draw attention to herself. Octavio spun his turntables once more, and Callie's shades flashed again.

"You all ready to have fun?" Callie snapped a hand into the air, but stayed frozen as the crowd replied with an enthusiastic roar. Sheldon's pre-filled minibomb slipped into Delta's hands.

"We have a special show for you." Callie dropped her hand, letting it swing lifelessly at her side. "Tonight we celebrate how the Great Turf War _should_ have ended! With Inklings smashed into sashimi, and Octarians crowned king of the cities!" Delta dropped the minibomb as warped trumpets screeched from huge speakers— and both of her Octoling captors exploded in clouds of purple as Agent 4 dove for her Hero Shot and ink tank.

"Oh-ho." Octavio's mech jumped back, giving the new threat some space. "I see we've got some fight left. Just as well—that'll make the show more interesting!" The two golden appendages beside Octavio's stage began to glow, almost as if purple flames billowed from the runes etched on each knuckle. Delta realized they were metallic fists, weighing roughly over a ton. With rockets on the back. Flying straight at her.

Deciding it wasn't a good idea to get hit by those, Delta pivoted to her left and pulled her Hero Shot's trigger. She was vaguely astounded at its new fire rate—the weapon had inked an escape route in under a second. She didn't have time to admire Sheldon's work and swam through the new stretch of green and out of the way of Octavio's attack.

"Marie." Delta called for her mentor over the radio, watching as Octavio turned to face her. "Has she ever been like this?"

"No…" Marie's voice was soft, distracted. "No, not at all."

"Something's really, really not right with her." Delta inked her way out of another fist. "So watch her. You know her best so you can figure out what." Delta growled in frustration as her shots bounced harmlessly off Octavio's invisible shield.

"And while you're at it..." Delta dodged another spinning arm. "Will you tell me how to hit this slob?"

* * *

"He's using an updated model of his old Octobot King." Marie shifted her weight in her chair. "His cockpit's got a shield, yes, but the shield doesn't register its own fists. Hit those back at him." Marie didn't wait for Agent 4's response before peering closer at Callie's movements.

The first thing Marie noticed was Callie's weight. She looked at least ten pounds lighter; and her clothes sagged over sickly pale skin. But Callie's behavior was more disconcerting. Marie knew her cousin was deathly afraid of heights, yet there she was suspended at least twenty feet high. Callie didn't flinch for even a second when she should have been freaking out. And Callie was a fidgety squidkid—but this time she stayed utterly still. When she did move, Callie was sharp and curt rather than playful and boundless. What was once limitless energy had turned into barely any at all.

But it was her song's rearrangement that worried Marie the most. Bomb Rush Blush had nearly been turned on its head. The original trumpets were so off-beat they almost sounded like they crashed into each other. They had been shoved aside for an electronic dubstep, featuring an accompaniment of foreboding violas. Callie's lyrics were the same, but her voice was missing its perk that was characteristic of Bomb Rush Blush. She instead sounded flat and almost rushed through her lines, as if her heart wasn't in it. When Callie reached the chorus, the bass clashed with the trumpet's crescendo in an overwhelming dissonance that made Marie want to scream. That was when Marie realized—no sane Callie would allow her song to be twisted into this monstrosity. Something was seriously wrong.

"All right, Octavio." Marie demanded, calling the octopus on his bluff. "Spill it. What did you do to her?"

"Nothing!" Octavio feigned an innocent grin as he charged another fist. "She's only the best remix I've ever seen!"

Remix. Every ounce of hurt from Callie's "betrayal" switched into instant, unbridled rage. Marie nearly lunged at Octavio before forcing herself to remember he was only pixels on a screen. Callie wasn't a traitor, she was the latest of the Great Octoweapons. Her bright-eyed, bubbly cousin had been stripped of herself and reprogrammed into the perfect weapon against the Splatoon. And the slob responsible had the gall to gloat over it, taunting Marie through the safety of the screen with his mocking green eyes.

 _You..._ Marie growled inside her head as her grip strangled the armrest with a level of anger she didn't even know was possible. The brainwashing had taken hold of nearly every part of Callie's personality, even searing a brand onto her vacant body. The formerly pink squid would have been fighting a losing battle for over two weeks...there was no way Callie's mind could have survived against something so extensive.

"Marie!" The veteran popstar felt a tug on her kimono. She looked over to find Sheldon waving his arms to grab her attention.

"Sheldon." Marie tried her best to swallow her rage before it exploded at the horseshoe crab. "…What?"

"Remember that Turquoise October album Four recovered not too long ago?" Sheldon wasted no time in shoving the disc into Marie's computer, slamming the play button on Shooting Starfish.

"It sounded weird when you were playing it earlier." Sheldon explained. "So I reversed the entire track on a hunch. This…" Sheldon clicked on a new mp3. "…is what I got." Shooting Starfish played backwards, and Callie's voice became more and more familiar. They had returned to the chorus when Marie recognized the melody.

Maritime Memory. Callie had been singing Maritime Memory the entire time, just backwards. It was a tiny, ever-so-faint pulse of life—but it was there.

Marie sank back into her chair, relieved there was a tiny smidgeon left of the cousin she knew and loved. It was clear proof that Callie was still in there, somewhere. If she still understood their music, then maybe—just maybe—Marie could use that as a way to get through to her cousin. It would be a brazen shot in the dark, but Marie had to try. She _had_ to. Callie was on the verge of living the rest of her life as nothing more than a twisted bioweapon at the hands of a delusional, tyrannical octopus.

Callie never gave up on Marie, so Marie couldn't give up on Callie.

* * *

Octavio's golden punch flew towards Delta at the perfect angle, and her Hero Shot made short work of the fist. It slammed into the Octobot's cockpit, and Delta heard a deepening hum as its weapons system powered down.

"Cod darn it!" Octavio cursed as he fiddled with his controls, trying to get his weapons back online. Delta took the moment to catch her breath. She clutched her chest, focusing on slow, deep breaths to bring as much oxygen to her system as possible.

"Callie!" Marie called over the radio, trying to reach the wayward singer. "It's me. Your cousin Marie. Try to remember!"

"DJ!" Callie showed no signs of recognition as the Octobot's weapons lit back up. "Drop that spicy wasabi beat!"

"Heh." Octavio grunted as he heaved his wasabi stalks back onto turntables. "Comin' with that spicy heat!" The Octobot twitched back to life as Octavio took aim. The battle was back on.

"Sheldon!" Delta heard a crash over the radio, followed by Sheldon's yelp. "Sheldon, please tell me you have something on wheels." The Octobot's bomb launchers began to shudder again as Delta began inking an escape route.

"I…wouldn't call it wheels." Sheldon's meek reply slipped through the radio as two of the largest suction bombs Delta had ever seen landed less than a meter from her. She instantly inked another escape route, her Hero Shot kicking into overdrive.

"Good enough." Marie replied. "I don't have time for semantics. Let's go." Delta thought she was safe, but apparently Octavio held two more bombs in reserve. He launched them at Delta's new position, and she scrambled to clear the blast zone.

"Hang in there, Agent 4." Marie called over the radio as Delta's armor snapped. "We're on our…way…" Marie's voice trailed off.

"I suddenly have time for semantics!" Marie protested over the radio as Delta dove for ink. "Can you even drive one of these?"

"Sure." Sheldon brushed off Marie's concern as Delta's armor returned. "It drives like a normal vehicle, just with some…extra controls to worry about."

"Ugh, fine I'll take it. Get in, you're driving." Marie said as the Octobot King's fists began to spin. Both launched at the same time, and Delta swam to the right to dodge them. The radio went silent as Marie and Sheldon both moved out of range.

The next ten minutes were agonizing. Octavio had grown more aggressive, sending punch after punch without allowing Delta to rest in between. Bomb Rush Blush's remix was starting to grate on Delta's ears, frustrating her and distracting her from the battle. Delta could feel her body start to give out as the battle grueled on. Her arms screamed with a familiar burning sensation and hardly obeyed her. Her breaths sounded more like wheezes. After a final dash out of Octavio's way, Delta's knee twinged with a telltale sting from her old wound. She needed backup, and fast.

"Are you squittin' kidding me?!" Delta never thought she would be relieved to hear Sheldon swear over the radio. "'Go faster?!' We're nearly at the barrier!"

"Exactly!" Marie shouted back. "Look at how weak it is. I think I can break it!" Delta's periphery picked out the golden gleam of one more punch headed in her direction.

"You _think_?" Sheldon continued his protest. Delta turned her torso toward Octavio's attack and pulled the trigger, using the last of her strength to stabilize her Hero Shot's recoil. "I need way more than that! I need concrete, factual evid—"

"Just shut up and drive!" Marie sounded out of patience. Octavio's fist careened back into the cockpit with a deafening crash, and Delta thanked her lucky stars to hear his weapons system power down again. Reinforcements had almost arrived, and the Octobot King was powerless to do anything about it.

"It's not the fall that kills you…" Sheldon cried as the radio picked up the sound of a revving engine. "…it's the sudden STOOOOOP!"

"I'll remind you what a real Bomb Rush looks like." Delta picked out Marie's mutter as she looked up, watching green splat bombs scatter across the transparent barrier on the ceiling. They kept coming, one after another from Marie's launcher. And then—

 _Boom._

It started small at first, when only one bomb went off. But that first burst unleashed a chain reaction throughout the top of the barrier, and Delta realized Marie had distanced her bombs like setting charges on a wall. The splat bombs created a circle of successive explosions around the forcefield, which flickered more and more under the strain of each blast. Delta watched a speck of a vehicle fly closer and closer to the barrier, nearly about to run straight into it at full speed. They looked three yards away when a center bomb exploded and the shield shattered into shards of sparking scrap.

Lime green ink poured into the arena from the eviscerated barrier, and Delta had to hold her Hero Shot above her head to protect herself from Marie's color. When the brief shower dissipated, Delta lowered her weapon to watch Marie and Sheldon emerge from the breach in a splash of lime and…atop a flying truck?

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Sheldon pumped his fist from the driver's seat. His truck's wheels had been replaced with green thrusters, and Delta actually recognized the semi. The stage rigs behind it were a dead giveaway; it was one of the old trucks the Squid Sisters used to perform on for Splatfests. Delta's eyes shifted to the pop star herself, noticing Marie had swapped her kimono for her old Squid Sisters dress.

"I knew you could do it, Marie!" Sheldon cheered, still celebrating the fact he was still alive. "I never doubted you!"

Marie ignored him. Delta instead heard a ping echo throughout the arena as Marie ejected the magazine from her favorite Hero Charger. Agent 2 loaded another without taking her eyes off her target, her eyebrows narrowed in concentration. Sheldon drove the truck around the back of the immobile Octobot King, zooming out from cover on its left side. Marie lifted her charger and fired a passing shot; Delta had assumed it was a pot shot at Octavio.

But Delta was horribly, horribly wrong.

Time seemed to freeze as a streak of lime green erupted from the charger's muzzle and cut through the air…straight to Callie's face. Marie's best friend let out a pained yelp as she took the hit directly to her shades, shattering them off the former Squid Sister. Delta watched in slow motion as Callie fell backwards, her back slamming onto the floor with a loud, sickening thump.

Everyone was dead quiet as they watched Callie's still form. The audience was stunned into silence, their purple and emerald lightsticks slowly waving to a stop. Delta's grip tightened around her Hero Shot's barrel, unsure of how to help. Sheldon nearly veered into a wall, then slowed a stop so he could watch the spectacle safely. Marie stayed utterly frozen; a mixture of pain and intense focus scrawled into the worry lines above her eyebrow.

Marie's cousin finally dragged her black gloves to her eyes after what felt like an eternity. Delta let out a breath of wonder that she didn't know she was holding. That… was… incredible! Delta hadn't seen a sniper shoot _anything_ like that. Marie had managed to hit the tiny sliver of Callie's shades from the back of a speeding truck—while Callie was moving. She hadn't even taken the time to aim; landing a salmonseye without even a scope. Marie's shot made Alyssa look like an infant with a squirt gun.

"Perfect. Agent 4!" Marie was moving again, slinging her charger over her shoulder. "We're gonna split them up; divide and conquer. I'll work on Callie, you handle Octavio. Hit it, Sheldon!"

Sheldon turned on the truck's music, and an orchestral intro filled the room. A quartet of violins strung out a familiar twelve notes before Marie entered the song, jumping in with the lyrics of her famed solo. Marie might have used the melody of Tide Goes Out, but it was higher pitched, faster paced—and overflowing with desperation. The deep drum that backed her up sent chills down Delta's skin as it reverberated throughout the entire stadium. Callie slowly sat herself up as the beat unfolded, resting on a knee as her blank eyes scanned the stadium in a dazed trance.

But Octavio wasn't willing to lose her brainwashing just yet. With a flick of his wasabi stalk, the octopus put on Bomb Rush Blush's instrumental—adding a trumpet of Bomb Rush Blush's melody to Tide Goes Out's lyrics. Delta watched Marie's hopes crash as Callie's features slowly twisted back into disdain, falling back under control. Callie rose to her feet and rebutted with her own solo at Marie's next chorus, forced to reject her cousin's help. Both voices gave way to a few bars of dubstep and Bomb Rush Blush's trumpets as Marie huffed through the mic, gathering herself to try again. The Octobot King whirred back to life as the DJ's angry glare focused onto Delta, more than ready to start fighting back.

The vocals restarted, and Bomb Rush Blush met Tide Goes Out in a clash of warring magenta and lime green lights. Octavio revved his engine as purple splat bombs spat out of his launchers, lining themselves in front of the emerald-wielding Inkling. Delta slid back from the four blasts, firing her Hero Shot to cover the purple with emerald. A golden blur sped past her periphery, and Delta had just enough time to pivot out of the way. The fist slammed into the steel flooring with a deafening clang, where Delta stood half a second ago. Purple fire popped from Octavio's thrusters as the Octobot shot to the left, but this time Delta easily dodged his spinning fist. Agent 4 whirled back around to face the giant machine. Octavio hadn't been moving that fast before.

Octavio's quick movement hadn't even fazed the wayward singer above him. Callie held her glare with Marie as she interrupted her cousin's melody, cutting in with pointed lyrics of her own. Marie promptly tried again, only for the remixed Bomb Rush Blush to clash against Tide Goes Out once more—leaving nothing but dubstep behind. The cousins prepared for another round as Octavio launched purple takoyaki at the emerald wielding agent. Delta froze, unsure of what to do with the new attack. The giant, breaded spheres sprouted into spinning pillars of purple ink—trapping Agent 4 in her position. Delta coiled into a crouch to guard herself from the stray droplets, and she caught a glimpse of a purple stream erupting from the Octobot King. Octavio ignited his rear thrusters, catapulting the ink shower at the trapped Inkling. Delta's legs found new vigor as she jumped at a narrow gap in the pillars, shifting to squid form with just enough space to squeeze through. Delta flopped out on the other side, morphing back into kid form to ink the area.

The fight was just as intense up above. The lyrics bounced back and forth with no signs of stopping, and Delta began to notice the nature of each song had changed. Marie's voice was growing increasingly persistent and distressed, while Callie sounded bleaker and emotionless. Callie's brainwashing was still there somehow, consuming her inside a barrier that Marie had yet to make a dent in. Tide Goes Out had adapted from its slow and pensive nature to hopeful and desperate, a stark contrast to Bomb Rush Blush's newly confused and twisted state—both a far cry from their original affekt. Callie's side was a programmed response to her cousin, but the more she sang the more she betrayed a hidden, unconscious desire to be saved.

But Marie was trying her absolute best to reach the real Callie. Her melody was begging and pleading for Callie to return to her senses, wanting nothing more than to bring her cousin home safe and sound. It was a profuse apology for not checking in for two years, for winning the final Splatfest, for letting petty little directors and subcontractors get in the way of the Squid Sisters.

But most of all, it was a dedication to the friendship they had shared since childhood. Each note from the culmination of both songs was a representation of every memory they had shared with each other. Every Spongebob episode they watched together. Every Pokemon game they played together. Every star they counted together. Every music lesson they took together. Every song they wrote together. Every warehouse shift they worked together. Every chocolate cake they shared together. Every concert they performed. Every show they filmed. Every stage they introduced. Every Splatfest they competed in. Every Splatoon mission they fought in. Every sandcastle they built on the beach. Every snowsquid they sculpted in the snow. Every shenanigan they roused. Every tear they shed. Every laugh they shared.

An unexpected break in the melody brought Delta out of her thoughts. It happened again as Marie missed a note, her voice wavering out of control. Delta looked up to find tears in the green Squid Sister's eyes, terrified that her best efforts weren't enough to save her cousin. Marie was coming to the realization that Callie might be too far gone, and that it might be time to say goodbye.

"WAKE UP, CALLIE!" Marie nearly screamed at her cousin over the accompanying trumpets. Her plea fell on deaf ears; after nearly ten minutes of back and forth Callie had hardly looked any better.

Delta heard a deep whir, snapping her attention back to the Octobot King. Purple glowed out of indecipherable runes, and both golden fists launched at Agent 4. The Inkling fired her Hero Shot at both, sending emerald punches back at the Octo King. One nailed Octavio's weapons module…

…while the other careened straight into his DJ equipment.

The music cut out with a distorted hum, halting Octavio's Bomb Rush Blush. Callie's voice trailed off, her formerly antagonistic gaze fading into a blank stare. Her brows quickly twisted into confusion as her arms began to twitch, caught between Octarian brainwashing and her real self. Marie's best efforts couldn't bring Callie back, and only left the cousin a torn vegetable. For all they knew, that was as good as Callie would get.

"This just…isn't working." Marie's hollow, defeated voice twisted Delta's gut. "…Sheldon, get alongside them." The crab didn't argue with her tone, flying the semi next to the immobile Octobot King. Marie's legs launched her into the air, clearing the empty gap between truck and Octobot. Her Squid Sister boots landed on Callie's stage and wasted no time closing the distance between cousins.

"Wait!" A confused, frightened Callie tried to step away—unable to tell friend from foe. "S-stay back—" Marie instead pulled her cousin into a tight hug, her golden eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"I'm not your enemy." Marie's headset picked up her gentle, low voice. "I'm your best friend. I'm family. Who else would eat a chocolate cake with you at two in the morning?" Callie started to struggle against the hold, frantically trying to fight her cousin—but Marie wouldn't let go.

"I'm sorry…" Marie shut her eyes tight, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I didn't mean to look like I never cared. I always did; you're my cousin, my better half. You can always come talk to me, no matter where I am or what I'm doing." Callie's nails dug into Marie's shoulders, unsure if they should hug or strangle her cousin. If it hurt, Marie didn't show it—or she was too busy fighting back tears to notice.

"Remember?" Marie's thumb tapped on a glistening screen in her hand, making Delta realize the Squid Sister had brought her shellphone with her. "That heavenly melody?"

A steady drum seeped through Marie's headset, twining together with a synthetic riff to form a faint, all too familiar beat. The song's intro was new, but there was no mistaking its nostalgic tune. Calamari Inkantation. Marie dared.

"It's my favorite." Marie's composure crumpled as her shoulders shook with quiet, unrestrained sobs. "Why? Not because it was the freshest song ever. Or that it was basically Inkopolis' anthem once." Marie paused for an unstable, shaky breath.

"It's because I wrote it." Marie clung to Callie for dear life, as if she'd lose her cousin forever if she dared let a single finger slip. "With my amazing and awesome cousin. And I wouldn't have wanted it any other way."

Callie's eyes squeezed themselves shut, her eyebrows tightly scrunched into agitated indecision.

"We sang it at that folk contest…" Marie swallowed another sob. "…and the world's never been the same since."

"So please…" Marie's voice faltered at her final plea, hugging her cousin tighter. "Don't let this be our last goodbye. Come back…"

Silence.

No one moved, no one spoke, no one dared breathe. Not a single soul had the audacity to shatter the personal, final moments between cousins. The only sound was the faint music and Marie gasping for breath between sobs…and each second was an eon.

"…I thought you had said we arranged it." Callie's fingers smoothed into a hug, rubbing comforting circles into her crying cousin's back. "I might be forgetful, but I _def_ remember you making a stink over how it was already a thing." Marie's eyes went wide with hope.

"…Callie?" Marie broke the hug to look at her cousin, and golden eyes met golden eyes.

"Hey, 'cuz." Callie offered a tired but warm smile. "You totally went snooping through my room, but thanks for finishing the redux for me." Callie's eyes closed as her beak spread into its full, iconic grin—and she pumped a fist into the air. "Now what'd'ya say we show it off, and show these deadbeats what a real banger sounds like?"

"… I'd like that." Marie stifled a sniffle, comforted by her cousin's unconditional energy. Callie was back, all right.

Hand in hand, the Squid Sisters Super Jumped off the Octobot King and onto the flying truck. Marie muttered something to Callie, who slipped inside the semi.

"Heads up, Four!" Sheldon took over Marie's radio as the Squid Sister paired her shellphone to the truck's stereo. "I made one last-minute weapon for you!" Delta watched Callie reappear in her Squid Sister outfit before snapping her attention to the little drone flying at her. Agent 4 snatched the black suitcase out of the air, kneeling on the ground to open the case up…

… and the Octobot King could not have skyrocketed higher.

"I figured—why not let the coolest agent end things with the coolest bang?" Sheldon's excited voice popped through the radio as Delta nearly shut the suitcase in shock. "What better way to end things than with the Rainmaker and its fabled guardian spirit? It couldn't possibly be more perfect for you!" Delta ran a reverent hand from the golden pearl to the tiger's head, then traced the ornate scales on the weapon's fishtail.

"Sheldon…" Delta could hardly believe she was staring at the legendary weapon. "You stole this from the Deca Tower, didn't you?"

"…I can take it back if you don't want it."

"No!" Delta hugged the golden fish to her chest.

"Thought so." Sheldon's reply was smug. "I yanked its limiter out, so you can go ahead and fire that little fishy to your heart's content."

"Octavio thinks he's out of your range up there." Marie added over the new Calamari Inkantation's intro. "But I see some unclaimed ink rails. So get moving and nuke yourself an octopus."

"One boiled slob, coming right up." Delta quickly Super Jumped into the air and hoisted the Rainmaker onto her shoulder, its upturned fishtail pointing towards the destroyed barrier. She landed on the ink rail's oval engine right as Callie and Marie jumped into their lyrics...

… and the crowd exploded into cheers.

Delta blinked in surprise while the quivering theremin made her shoulders shiver. She hadn't expected an arena full of Octolings to celebrate the return of the Squid Sisters, much less a cheer so…pure. There was genuine joy in the audience's voice as Callie and Marie nailed the chorus, their signature salutes outlining the silhouette of a larger squid. Delta slid her way along the four ink rails, absently watching the sea of blue lightsticks sway like enchanted waves. Time seemed to melt away as she breathed with the song's electronic synth, and anything that wasn't Octavio faded into nothingness. It was time to neutralize that octopus for good, before he could escape to hurt anyone else.

Delta jumped to the innermost rail, lining up a shot with the Rainmaker. Octavio charged a spinning punch as Delta pulled the fish's right fin, the Rainmaker's golden pearl glowing with a shot of her own. A hurricane of sparkling green fired from the golden tiger's fangs, only to bounce harmlessly off purple knuckles. The Rainmaker's shot sailed into the distance, bursting into a sphere of shimmering emerald as Spicy Calamari Inkantation faded into a twinkling baseline.

The spinning fist dug into the ink rail, snapping the line with a screeching wail. Delta backflipped onto the rail behind her as the innermost lane collapsed onto the ground below, dangling only by its oval engine.

The spectacle kicked Delta's hearts into overdrive, and she soon felt the familiar rush of endolphins fly through her brain. Spicy Calamari Inkantation faded into a traditional whistle as she charged another shot, daring Octavio to strike again. The octopus made the mistake of launching a regular hook—and Delta slammed her palm's scar into the Rainmaker's fin. The golden fish spat out a giant, sparking ball of green at the incoming fist—crashing it into Octavio's cockpit. The Octobot King wavered under the force of the impact, but Octavio held it together.

The octopus switched strategies—this time firing a rush of suction bombs at Agent 4. Delta dodged the incoming bombs as she zoomed by, watching them stick to the three ink rails. The canisters slid underneath the lanes, hiding themselves like improvised mines. Agent 4 was skating along the central rail when she caught sight of the black suction cup peeking over the side of her rail. Her hips dropped into a coil as she sprang off the cable, narrowly clearing the blast by half an inch. Delta stuck the landing, only to leap for another rail to dodge the next mine.

A spinning cross came out of nowhere, slamming into Delta's side mid-jump. The force of the hit shattered her armor and flung her away from the rails, falling toward the ground. Agent 4 hardly flinched, morphing into a squid to Super Jump the moment she hit steel. The Inkling shot back up to the central rail, eyes wild with indignant denial.

 _I'm not dying,_ Delta's blue eyes challenged as she sped along the emerald lane, her Rainmaker shining with another charge. _That's on your to-do list, not mine._

Octavio growled in panicked frustration, heating up both fists for launch. Delta's hearts beat in time with Spicy Calamari Inkantation as the octopus fired a double uppercut, aiming for her feet on the innermost rail. The NSS agent leapt into a front flip, dodging the first fist and firing the Rainmaker at the second. The hunk of gold bounced back in its own uppercut, slamming into the Octobot's underside. The giant machine flipped backwards with an ominous clang before sputtering and crashing onto the steel below.

The other fist erupted from below, snapping the ink rail from below. It sagged toward the ground, pouring emerald ink onto the arena below. Delta skated along the central rail, yanking the Rainmaker's fin for one last shot of justice.

Octavio squirmed below her, trapped under the weight of his own turntables. Delta skated towards the damaged rail, leaping onto the broken track and sliding her way down to the writhing machine. Delta jammed the charged Rainmaker into Octavio's scar—and the fiery blue eyes of the sheepdog met the terrified green of the wolf.

"Remix this." Agent 4 growled, slamming her scarred palm onto the Rainmaker's fin.

The charge released.

* * *

 **A/N: So a couple notes about the chapter:**

 **-Salmonseye=bullseye**

 **-Callie's lyrics in Turquoise October is actually canon, and I found that little Easter egg from a video by Chica meme. I'd love to leave a link here, but FFnet has decided that weblinks are the evil plague. If you just search "turquoise october reversed" in YouTube it should be the first video that comes up. That easter egg blew my mind at 1:30 am the night before a final. I…don't think it was my best grade, haha**

 **-The Rainmaker is based off the Shachihoko, a mythical beast with the head of a tiger and the body of a carp. These creatures were responsible for thwarting fires with the rain/water that shoot out their mouth. The main difference in the design between Splatoon 1 and 2 is the addition of the pearl in its mouth. Sound a little familiar? Like the tigerfish described in Chapter 10? Where Delta shoved a rock into its mouth? Which left a Rainmaker-shaped scar on the hand that she uses to fire the Rainmaker? It's really really subtle, but it's the literary concept of being marked for destiny—that experience put Delta on the path to where she is now.**

 **-If any of you were confused about where Marie's Bomb Rush came from, take a look at the special that comes with the original Hero Charger Replica. That was just…too perfect to pass up.**

 **-And in case you missed it: Marie's dialogue when she turns on Spicy Calamari Inkantation is a direct callback to the flashback in Chapter 15, where Callie plays the original version to show Marie that their best work is done together. Calamari Inkantation was the first song they ever performed, so I found it fitting for Callie to send Marie a half-written Spicy Calamari in Chapter 11 as her way of saying she wants to start over. So the finished version has double meaning, both showing Callie that Marie is willing to start over…and that their best work is done together.**

 **I don't know how that came across to any of you, but as the author that scene ripped the feels right out of my chest. So if y'all don't mind I'm gonna go wrap myself in a blanket, curl up in a corner, and stuff my face with chocolate.**


	19. Aftermath

The Octobot King groaned under the force of the Rainmaker's shot, trembling beneath Delta's feet. Agent 4 backflipped off the huge machine as it ballooned into a ball before exploding like a giant, emerald Burst Bomb. Octavio's splat was welcomed with a deafening uproar—and the Octarian audience hadn't even waited for the Octobot to fully explode before Super Jumping into the purple smog above.

Delta panted as she rested her hands on her knees, welcoming the wave of relief that came with seeing the Great Zapfish's huge body sprawled across the sea of green ink—with not a single octopus in sight. She looked up to find Sheldon gently guiding his truck to the ground, with both Callie and Marie clinging to the top's scaffolding. The Great Zapfish was recovered, Callie was rescued, and Octavio was no more.

It was done.

"Phew!" Callie tugged her arms over her head, stretching the corners of her beak with a tired yawn. "Nothing like a good gig to get your adrenaline pumpin' and wake you up in the mornin'!"

"Callie, it's almost 1 am." Marie's tone was nearly deadpan as she slid off the top of Sheldon's truck.

"…It is?" Callie blinked down at her cousin, and Delta could almost watch the gears creak back to life in the pink squid's head.

"Yup." Marie tapped the heel of Callie's boot, signaling for her cousin to hop down. "Hate to break it to ya, but you're taking some real liberties to call it 'morning.'" The familiar whoosh of a respawn pad drew Delta's attention to the center of the arena as Marie helped Callie down. Octavio's red tentacles materialized from the pad and promptly collapsed onto the floor's gray steel.

"Oh, of course." Marie groaned as she strode toward the octopus, charger in hand. "Of course he just had to hide a respawn pad in here."

"Holy carp…" Sheldon was already at the scene, squatting down to poke at the Octo King. "Four splatted him so hard, he respawned unconscious."

Octavio responded with a loud, long snore.

"Works for us." Delta gave a shrug. "Sheldon can just tie him to the top of the truck."

"Pfft." Marie let out a chuckle. "Go for it. Let him trail behind us for all I care."

"Hey…guys?" Callie's hesitant voice called out. "How did we get here? Why does my head feel like it's gonna explode?" The newly rescued Squid Sister was leaning on the side of the truck, hand pressed above her eyebrow. "And...why can't I remember?"

"Yeah, I was wondering when it was gonna hit her." Marie muttered to herself as she took a few steps forward, planting herself in front of her cousin's vision. "Callie, what's the last thing you remember?"

"Coming home from work, then performing just now." Callie tensely answered, looking up at her cousin. "But…aren't you supposed to be in Calamari County? What are you doing here?"

"Callie." Marie put a hand on her cousin's shoulder, taking a moment to figure out how to break the news. "You never showed up on the train."

Callie visibly gulped.

"I cut my trip short and came back to look for you." Marie continued, dropping her hand. "We found you here in Cephalon HQ, brainwashed and under Octavio's control." She jerked her head at the unconscious octopus.

"So I went missing?" Callie's voice was quiet. "How long has it been…?"

"Two weeks!" Marie had opened her mouth to respond, but Sheldon beat her to the punch. Marie's head whipped around to glare at the horseshoe crab as Callie's eyes widened in disbelieving shock.

"Did…did you just say two weeks?" Callie began to stagger backwards as her overwhelmed brain tried to process. "I blacked out for _two weeks_?" Her hands came back up to her head.

"Hey, hey." Marie's attention was back on her cousin, intent on damage control. Sheldon squeaked a tiny whimper at his mistake and guiltily snuck off to do something—anything—that wasn't Squid Sister related.

"I had so much work to do!" Callie was too frantic to listen. "We hadn't finished filming on—anything, really and oh cod I was supposed to host Splaturday Night Live, and—"

"Callie!" Marie interrupted, giving her cousin a gentle but firm shake to snap her out of it. "Work is the last thing you should be thinking about right now, okay?" Callie quieted down, dazedly staring at the ground.

"Wait." She suddenly grabbed at Marie's arm, quickly concerned. "My dad. He must've been worried sick, is he okay?"

"He's fine, I made sure to check up on him." Marie replied, voice calm. "The cardiologists put him in the hospital so they could watch him more closely, but it's just a precaution."

"Oh thank cod…" Callie's shoulders sagged, visibly relieved. "I'm glad they jumped on it so quickly."

"Come on." Marie wrapped a protective arm around her cousin's shoulders. "It's too dangerous to stay here. We can keep talking on the ride back." She lead Callie to the back of the semi, opening the door and bringing her inside. Delta was about to follow when her ears picked up the sound of a deep rustle behind her. She turned around to find that the Great Zapfish had begun to stir, stretching itself out before snaking its way into the horizon above Cephalon HQ. Delta saw a bright flash of yellow crack through the sky before the ground under her feet shook with a loud thunderclap, and her beak slipped into a contented smirk. The Great Zapfish seemed just fine.

"I don't remember you." Callie looked at Delta, nervously rubbing her hands together once Agent 4 had climbed inside the truck.

"That's because you haven't met her, silly." Marie took a seat next to Callie. "This is the newly recruited Agent 4, and you owe her one _really_ big thanks." Callie gave an overwhelmed blink, mouthing a quiet "thank you."

"Hey, Marie!" Sheldon's voice called through the radio as the truck's thrusters trembled to life under Delta's feet. "Where are we going?"

"Back to the Cabin, first." Marie picked her radio up. She cast a worried glance at Callie, who had slumped against the semi's wall with her eyes closed. "Then I think it's time for a trip to the hospital."

"Wait, no I'm fine!" Callie was quick to protest, snapping herself upright. "No need to worry about me."

"Yeah, so…don't freak out…" Marie pointed a finger at the crook in Callie's elbow. "But those look like needle marks."

"Oh, cod you're right…" Callie breathed, rubbing at the tiny blue scabs. "What the carp did they do?"

"We'd need an ink test to know." Marie patted Callie's shoulder. "And besides, I wouldn't touch something like brainwashing with a ten foot pole. I'm calling this in."

"Wouldn't that break our cover?" Delta asked, confused.

"Nah." Callie shook her head with a defeated sigh. "Gramps negotiated a whole new procedural code-thingy for us when he founded the NSS. All we need to do is call the place and request a code yellow, and they sneak us in with no questions asked."

"I'll bet most of the staff just think it's a code for a client with sensitive privacy matters." Marie added, brushing a speck of stray dust off her Squid Sisters dress. "Only the doctor and two nurses know the full story, and they're not allowed to tell anyone anyway." She picked her radio back up. "Hey Sheldon—what did you do with Octavio?"

"I tied him to the roof like a Squidmas tree!"

It was only a ten minute ride back to Cuttlefish Cabin, and Delta and Sheldon were tasked with securing Octavio while Callie and Marie went downstairs to change out of their performance dresses. Sheldon heaved the snowglobe out of storage and Delta helped shove the unconscious octopus through the one-way hatch underneath the base. Sheldon kicked the Cuttlegear insignia, and the two shared a high five as the security seal slid underneath the snow globe's hatch. Once Callie and Marie emerged from the cabin—Marie in her kimono and Callie in a pink cardigan and beanie—the team set off for the city's hospital.

It wasn't long until the truck's thrusters touched down on the hospital's helipad, and Marie motioned for the team to head outside. Callie stood, but quickly swayed.

"Whoa..." Callie put an unsteady hand on the wall. "I don't feel so good anymore."

"What's wrong?" Marie was on it instantly. "Dizzy?"

"Nauseous, too." Callie gulped. "Headache's back like it wants to kill me."

"Okay." Marie took Callie's arm, rubbing her cousin's back with her free hand. "Well, if there was ever a time to start feeling sick, it would be now. Do you think you can walk, or should I get the nurses to bring a stretcher?"

"Nah, I got it." Callie defiantly waddled toward the truck's exit. Marie held onto her cousin's arm, making sure she wouldn't collapse on the way down the steps. Delta heaved herself off her seat to trail behind the two singers.

"Dang, those lights are really bright…" Callie's eyes shrunk into a squint, and she raised a hand to shield herself from the helicopter pad's lighting.

"That doesn't sound good." One of the nurses quickly grabbed Callie's other arm. "Let's get her into a bed right away."

"You guys okay over here?" The other nurse trotted up to Delta and Sheldon, who both nodded. "Good. You can park the truck in the back so it's not in the way of our helicopters, and there's a private briefing room through the door and to the left that you can stay in."

"Guys!" Marie called over her shoulder as she led Callie inside. "Stick together and lay low, okay?"

"You got it, don't worry about us." Delta shouted back, then turned to the horseshoe crab next to her. "You heard her, Sheldon."

* * *

Callie's sensitivity to light quickly proved to be more than just an adjustment, much to Marie's concern. The hospital's lighting hadn't helped; its florescent bulbs reflected off white walls, shining with a bright glare that had worsened Callie's headache. The hospital was quick to run her through several brain scans, anxious to rule out the possibility of a stroke. The fast-paced rush left everything a blur for a stressed Marie; and before she knew it they were back in Callie's room, patient in bed and lights dimmed to help her headache. The nurse fussed around a little more, refitting Callie's heart monitor before paging for the doctor.

"Welcome back, Agent 1." Dr. Krustebb—a large, crusted prawn—was quick to answer his summons, giving Marie a friendly wave before turning back to his patient. "Is the headache any better?"

"Not…really." Callie squinted back at him. "Did the scan-y thing come back—" Callie suppressed an unexpected wince as the nurse punched a tiny needle into the star's index finger. The cleaner shrimp muttered an apology before squeezing the little blue dot onto white carbon paper.

"The MRI?" Dr. Krustebb raised an amused antenna as the nurse slipped out of the room. "Yes it did: no signs of stroke. It's a little too early to see anything else—I'd want another scan later to see what changes—but now we know it's nothing urgent."

"The ink results are due back too, right?" Marie shifted her weight in the armchair next to Callie's bed. "What did they say?"

"Well for starters," Dr Krustebb shoved his hands into his white pockets, rummaging through their contents. "It tells me she hasn't eaten in a pretty long time, which helps explain those missing twelve pounds. But we really need to get something into her stomach, so…" He pulled out a stack of wrapped saltines, passing them to Callie. "…I thought we could start with something light."

Callie took the crackers, absently examining the stack in her hands. She stared at it for another heartbeat before slowly pulling the wrapper open—which told Marie that her cousin was still queasy. The only time Callie wasn't enthusiastic about food was when she felt sick.

"As for those needle marks," Dr. Krustebb continued, drawing both cousins' attention. "The ink test picked up a medicine called propranolol, which is ultimately harmless. It was probably used to counterbalance some other part of the brainwashing, but does nothing by itself. And now that we know what it is—" He pushed his sinking glasses back up as the nurse rolled an IV drip into the room, rolling up the left sleeve on Callie's pink cardigan. "—We can finally give you something for that migraine."

"Migraine…" Marie muttered, more to herself than anyone in the room. "That would explain the sensitivity to light."

"Plus the nausea, fatigue and dizziness, probably." Dr. Krustebb nodded in agreement. "A real, bona-fide migraine can be a nasty unpleasant mess." The nurse pricked the IV's needle into Callie's arm, earning an annoyed look from the pink squid—but the glare quickly morphed into a large yawn.

"All right, I think she's had enough." Dr. Krustebb cracked a smile, motioning at the cleaner shrimp. "And I'm sure she needs to catch up on sleep. We'll get out of here so she can get some rest." Both shrimp and prawn left the room, with Dr. Krustebb giving one last wave before pulling the door closed.

"I'm fine." Callie paused for another yawn. "But yeah, a nap sounds awesome right about now...long as they don't poke me with more freakin' needles…" Her grumbling protest trailed off as she leaned her head back, closing her eyes.

"You can take a nap." Marie encouraged as she pulled her shellphone out. "I don't mind." Between the adrenaline crash from the exhausting day plus the migraine, Marie was surprised that Callie hadn't passed out already.

"Wait…Marie?" Callie cracked an eyelid open.

"What's up?" The young strategist looked up from her shellphone.

"I don't wanna move this in my sleep." Callie nudged an exhausted chin toward the IV stuck in her arm. "Could you…?"

"Yeah, hang on." Marie pocketed her shellphone, standing up. She hoisted her armchair off the ground with a quiet grunt, planting it next to Callie's IV before taking her hand.

"Thanks." Callie smiled. "For everything."

"You got it." Marie rubbed her thumb across the back of Callie's hand. "Now get some sleep, will you? I'll make sure you don't magically manage to wiggle the IV out of your arm."

"Way ahead of you…" Callie's eyes closed, and Marie could hardly count to five before her cousin was asleep. Poor thing had to have been wiped out.

It wasn't long until Marie joined her. She had meant to just rest her head on the corner of the mattress, but her eyes had soon closed—and the tired pop star fell asleep with her hand still holding onto her cousin's.

* * *

"Uh, Sheldon?" Delta called from her chair in the briefing room. "Do I…want to know what you're doing over there?"

"Surgery." Sheldon plainly replied, grabbing a tiny pair of tweezers from his toolkit. "I'm going in." The weapons engineer slipped the tweezers into a clear bottle before slowly, carefully pulling a slim piece of plastic from the isopropyl alcohol.

"Okay last I checked…" Delta blinked, looking over her shoulder for a glimpse at the table Sheldon had commandeered. "You weren't a registered surgeon at this hospital, and I don't think anyone on this planet would come within a ten meter radius of you if you ever touched a scalpel."

"I'm a registered repaircrab." Sheldon quipped back, looking over his shoulder as he set the plastic on a dry paper towel. "And repairing a logic board from water damage—" he pulled a toothbrush from his kit. "—is a very delicate operation."

"Logic board?" Delta's emerald brows furrowed in confusion, but they straightened back out when she saw a pink case on Sheldon's makeshift workstation. "Oh, you found Callie's shellphone."

"Bingo!" Sheldon turned back around, gently scrubbing at the logic board with his toothbrush. "I saw it glinting in the lake when we were flying over. She's darn lucky her model scores a 7 on the water resistance scale, and with that sturdy case it's as close to waterproof as it could get. Because you know it's impossible to get something _actually_ waterproof and a good amount of water got under the SIM card so the thing was pretty dead when I found it and—OH YEAH the water resistance scale goes up to 9 and it's actually called the Ing—"

"Thanks for the detail, Sheldon." Delta rubbed at her eyes. "I'm glad I asked."

"You've been hanging around Two too much." Sheldon chuckled, swapping the toothbrush for the tweezers. "Her sass is rubbing off on you. But hey, at least you have good reason to hang out with the team now!"

"Yeah." Delta grunted, remembering she had left Entrenched on dour terms. "I still gotta make amends. They can't be worried about me while trying to catch a sponsorship this late in the tournament." Sheldon paused, setting his tweezers down and turning to look at Delta.

"You haven't checked your shellphone." He breathed, leaning his hands on the counter. Delta tilted her head in confusion, pointing at her shellphone next to Sheldon's project. He got the message, scooping it up and bringing it over to her. Delta punched her home button and was greeted with a flurry of missed texts from Entrenched's group chat:

"GUYS WE GOT ONE"

"HOLY SQUIT HOW DID YOU EVEN LAND THAT KAI"

"DUDE I DIDNT THEY JUST CAME UP TO ME"

Delta's hearts began to pound. Whatever the others were excited about, it had to be big. She quickly tapped on her web browser—she needed to know what was going on and the boys were taking too long to get to the point. The hospital's wifi managed to bring up the Nationals page without incident—but she hit refresh just in case—and Delta was instantly greeted with a new sponsorship announcement:

"CUTTLEGEAR SIGNS TEAM ENTRENCHED"

"…Cuttlegear?" Delta looked back at Sheldon, bewildered. "They decided to do sponsorships?" Cuttlegear had issued a statement earlier in the tournament that its CEO had taken a leave of absence due to family matters, and that it would not participate in this year's sponsorship program.

"Well they had dropped out because they couldn't spare the cephalopower to watch the teams and make a decision." Sheldon answered, still standing by Delta's chair. "With them down a CEO and the advent of their civilian gear on the horizon, they needed all hands on deck. But…" Sheldon's shoulders slid into a meek shrug. "Cuttlegear also trusts its friends, and they've partnered with Ammo Knights many times."

"So it was you." Delta's beak cracked into a grin. "You recommended us to them."

"Marie helped, too!" Sheldon jammed his hands into his apron's pockets. "She's got some pull in Cuttlegear as well. But yeah I might have… made some suggestions." Delta grabbed at Sheldon's arm, pulling him into an unexpected hug.

"Thank you." Delta murmured through the hug, smiling from ear to ear.

"H-heh, you're welcome." Sheldon gave a sheepish chuckle, not expecting a show of gratitude from the normally reserved squidkid. "But uh, didn't you say you were gonna raid the vending machine like ten minutes ago? Why are you still sitting here?"

"Um…" Delta broke the hug, pursing her lips. "I might have a slight problem."

Sheldon said nothing, raising a questioning eyebrow over his goggles.

"…I can't move." Delta giggled, slumping into her chair. "Honest. My muscles are so tired they won't let me stand."

"Oh come on." Sheldon groaned. "That's gotta be the lamest excuse I've ever heard."

"It's true!" Delta protested, gripping the armrests to stand. She got halfway off the chair before her quads buckled and Agent 4 crashed back into her seat. "Do I look like the kind of squid that's too lazy to walk to the vending machine just across the cod-danged hall?" Sheldon burst into laughter, holding his stomach and pointing a mocking finger at an unamused Delta.

"Oh my cod." The crab tugged at his goggles to wipe a tear from his eye. "That's rich. Someone rode those ink rails a little too much tonight, huh?"

"Oh yeah?" Delta smirked back. "I'd like to see what you'd look like after dodging giant fists for a good fifteen minutes straight."

"All right, all right." Sheldon conceded with a final chuckle. "I'll get you something when I give Callie her shellphone back. Ha…imagine if your coach knew that his intrepid prodigy was thwarted by a single chair."

"…Shut up."

* * *

"And that's…all you remember?" Detective Alex asked, and Marie could watch a bulging vein pop out of the confused Inkling's forehead. "You missed your turn on the way to your apartment, found yourself in a back alley…and then you don't remember anything that happened after that?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Callie replied from her hospital bed, folding her arms. "I don't know what happened or why I can't remember—we haven't heard the verdict from the doc yet." Marie quietly nodded to herself from her seat on the armchair. It was a smart move to stall for time—they wouldn't have to change their story later. Marie tilted her head to the side, spotting the faint outline of Sheldon's goggles through a gap in the window shades. She waved him in, watching him slink behind the two detectives. Sheldon quietly passed her a leather satchel before slipping out of the room.

"All right." Detective Alex gave an exasperated sigh, motioning to his jellyfish partner. "At least you're safe now, Miss Callie. There's too little evidence to continue the investigation further. We'll wait for the doctor's judgment for our official report, but as long as you're found I'd say it's case closed." Both detectives left the room, and Marie waited until she heard their footsteps disappear down the hall.

"So what really happened?" Marie gently tapped Callie's shoulder.

"It's pretty foggy, but…" Callie narrowed her eyes as she stared into space. "I think I kept walking down the alley…and then suddenly someone's got me in a chokehold from behind. They must have known what they were doing, because I was out before I could counter."

"You just…kept walking?" Marie leaned back in her chair, brows furrowed. "Callie, that's really not like you."

"…hmm?" Callie's eyes snapped back to her cousin.

"Say what you want about being spacey," Marie gestured at her best friend's lapse of attention. "But you're not _that_ much of a klutz. For carp's sake, Callie—you usually spot trouble long before I do. I've never had to worry about you wandering into actual danger before."

"I know, I know." Callie looked away, rubbing at her scabbed arm. "I don't think I even knew what I was doing. I was tired, I was upset, I had a lot on my mind. I just…had the biggest brain fart of the century, I guess."

"No kidding." Marie heaved a heavy sigh; to the frazzled strategist, that was the biggest _understatement_ of the century. "Was it the spat with Sapyre that had you out of sorts?"

"You knew about that?" Callie turned back to her cousin, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"I talked to her." Marie folded her arms across her chest. "Bluve too. They told me you've been sleeping in your office, your parents say you haven't called them in weeks, and your personal schedule is an absolutely overbooked squit-show. Then you lose your temper—which is the most un-Callie thing I can think of—and you're so exhausted you don't even realize where you're going?" Marie paused to recollect herself, forcing the stress out of her tone with a deep exhale. "You haven't been yourself, Callie—even before you were captured. What's been going on?"

"Heh, it's…just been a lot of work." Callie waved her cousin's concern away. "Y'know how it gets. Everybody wants a lil' slice of your day when you're as famous as we are, amirite?"

"C'mon, Cal." Marie tried her best to hide the disappointment in her voice. "We both know that's a lie." The green Squid Sister could always spot Callie's lies from a mile away; the tiny chuckle was a classic of her cousin's nervous tells. But the pink squid didn't respond right away, pursing her lips and looking at anything that wasn't Marie—she had to be ashamed of something. Carp.

"I know I wasn't there when you needed me to be," Marie rested her arms on the bed railing, hoping that a more direct show of support would help. "But I'm here now, and I want to help." Callie spared a glance at Marie, then turned her attention to the white curtains her left. Marie kept quiet, resting her head on her arms as she absently watched the shadows under the door. She didn't want to push things any further, but silently prayed that Callie would feel comfortable enough to open up. Whatever was wrong needed to stop, and that wasn't going to happen if Callie kept things to herself.

"…I couldn't do it." Marie almost jumped at Callie's quiet, defeated voice. She turned back to look at her cousin, who hadn't budged.

"Do what?" Marie ventured a question, gently wrapping her fingers around the bed rail.

"Work, or…life I guess." Callie looked at the ceiling with an exasperated huff, resting her head against her pillow. "No matter how hard I try, my lazy hide just can't manage time." Her beak quivered as she expelled a frustrated sigh, closing her eyes.

"My acting was fine on set—great, even." Callie reopened her eyes to take a nibble at her saltine. "But I was always in trouble for winging my lines. And I was trying to memorize them in time, but…" Callie paused again, and an insistent beep made Marie glance at her cousin's heart monitor. Callie's heart rate had climbed from a resting 90 to a stressed 110.

"Hey." Marie put a comforting hand on her best friend's shoulder. "Calm down, it's okay." Callie looked at her cousin, who nodded at the heart monitor. She got the message and took a deep breath to steady herself.

"Every time I sat down to study them…" Callie continued, biting into her cracker. "I'd get through just a few lines, and then next thing I know I'm on my fifth video about new roller techniques and it's almost time for filming. So I'd have to wing the shoot, and stay up at night to catch up. But by the end of the workday, the load was so huge it still wouldn't be done by morning. So I'd have to spend every minute of free time the next day trying to finish everything while new stuff kept piling on. Rinse and repeat, every day." Marie bit at her lip, remembering from Callie's schedule that her cousin was averaging less than four hours of sleep per night.

"How long has this been going on?" Marie asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"Months, at least." Callie rubbed at her eyes. "Probably longer, I lost track. Gramps would probably kill me if he knew."

" _I_ would've killed you if I had known." Marie's voice turned stern. "Callie, how the carp did you think constantly pulling all-nighters like that was okay?" Even a capable fighter like Callie would crumble under such sleep deprivation. No wonder the Octarians were able to nab her without much of a fight.

"Well, I know _now_." Callie huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I just…really wanted to make everything work. But I didn't know how, and I didn't know who to turn to. I was gonna figure it out once I got back to Calamari County, but then…" Callie shrugged. "You know the rest, not me." Marie opened her mouth to speak, but closed it as the door to Callie's room opened.

"Hello, ladies." Dr. Krustebb entered with two nurses, but paused under the somber weight of the hospital room. "Am I…interrupting anything?"

"Nah, it's all good." Callie waved his concern away with a flick of her hand, quick to return to some semblance of normal Callie. "Did the results come back?"

"They did." The doctor grabbed onto a nearby stool, wheeling it to the foot of Callie's bed before sitting down. "Good news and a little iffy news, but mostly good news."

"Alright." Callie huffed a determined sigh as Marie shifted in her seat. "Hit me with the good news, doc."

"Very well." Dr. Krustebb replied, shifting through the few papers on his clipboard before finding the one he was looking for. "I think we figured out what they did, or at least a key part of it. It's hard to say for sure without looking at the actual shades, but it looks like they ran an extra procedure before putting them on."

Callie went quiet again, fidgeting with the white hospital blanket.

"The first screening showed a few brain areas that weren't very active, so they weren't working the way they should." The doctor continued. "Almost like they were deactivated. The Octarians targeted four main areas: one to negate a fear response, one to prevent the brain from adjusting to the shades, one to split personalities, and one to prevent the recall of personal memories."

"They even thought to prevent her brain from adapting?" Marie raised a half-impressed eyebrow. "That's…a pretty thorough job."

"It was astonishing to see how expertly meticulous they were—right down to even using the propranolol to help ensure the real Callie stayed detached." Dr. Krustebb agreed, and Marie could watch the prawn's eyes widen with awe. "Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing, patiently and diligently countering every single detail that had even the smallest chance of undoing the brainwashing. It was absolutely brilliant handiwork."

"That's the Octarians for you." Marie felt for Gramps' book underneath her kimono, silently grateful for Octavio's hasty grandstand that was ultimately his downfall. "So calm and fastidious it's almost frightening."

"…Is the damage permanent?" Callie finally spoke up.

"Luckily, your brain is already starting to fix itself." Dr. Krustebb offered a comforting smile, and both cousins dropped their shoulders in relief. "The second scan showed that most of the targeted areas are rebounding very quickly, so it's probably more of a temporary deactivation instead of actual damage. Your brain has a huge impact on your behavior, and we can see a massive improvement just by how you're acting now. At this point it's just about waiting for the small stuff to catch up."

"Mkay." Marie looped her fingers around the bed rail. "Is there anything we should expect as she recovers?"

"Well…" Dr Krustebb flipped through his papers again. "There will probably be more migraines, like the one earlier. Aside from that, I can see her feeling jet-lagged, raiding the fridge past midnight, sleeping a lot, uh… she might feel really out of it from time to time—"

"Wait hold up." Callie put a hand up to stop the prawn. "Why is something about a fridge in there? How the carp is that an actual biological thing?"

"Oh, uh…" The doctor trailed off as he stared into space, searching for words to explain. "It's a part of night eating syndrome: where you wake up in the middle of the night compelled to binge on snacks. You might get just a tiny bit of it, because the Octarians really messed around with your suprachiasmatic nucleus."

"My _what now_?" Callie stared back at him, raising an incredulous eyebrow.

"Let's… just call it the SCN." The prawn raised a claw with an amused chuckle. "It's in charge of your biological clock, syncing all of your biorhythms to the light around you through a process called entrainment. It's what gives you jet lag when you travel to a different timezone; you know how sometimes your hunger gets stuck on your home's schedule? It's the same idea."

"But…" The doctor's shoulders drooped as he turned back to Callie. "Onto the other news. While most of your brain is quickly returning to the activity we expected, there's one lobe that hasn't—your frontal lobe."

Callie gripped at her hospital blanket as Marie tersely pursed her lips, worried what the doctor would say next.

"At first we were really concerned about it." Dr. Krustebb folded his arms. "I had thought it was permanent damage from the brainwashing. But then, looking at how Callie usually behaves, we realized that her frontal lobe has probably been that way for her entire life. In other words… I think we found something else, something that Callie's been hiding her struggle with." The doctor turned his attention to his patient, eyes serious. "Callie, if you want your cousin to leave the room so you can talk about this privately, just say the word."

Marie's shoulders rose as her breath caught in her chest, very blindsided and very unsettled with the exchange. Marie was Callie's cousin and best friend. She was supposed to know when Callie was struggling with something. But Marie hadn't the faintest idea of what the prawn was talking about, and yet she felt like she was the only one in the room that couldn't follow the conversation.

"…No, she can stay." Callie rubbed at her eyes again as Marie settled back into her chair, arms folded across her chest.

"Very well." Dr. Krustebb grabbed a stack of papers from the nurse. "So Callie—how often do you find yourself making careless mistakes?"

"U-uh, haha…" Callie let out a nervous chuckle, stalling for an excuse.

"All. The. Dang. Time." Marie cut in.

"I'm not _that_ bad!" Callie was quick to protest, her voice perking up at Marie's playful quip.

"Do I need to mention all the times you've called me with the phone upside down?" Marie raised an eyebrow. "Or when you texted my phone to say that I had left it behind? And don't get me started on the Great Vulpix Incident."

Callie narrowed her eyes at her cousin.

"Keeping you honest." Marie hadn't flinched, cracking her sly half-smile as she leaned back into her armchair.

"Okay okay, I get it." Dr. Krustebb chuckled, scribbling something on his clipboard. "Are these the kinds of mistakes that you wouldn't have made…had you been paying attention?"

"…Yeah." Callie's smile faded.

"And does it take a lot of time to get things right the first try?" Dr. Krustebb glanced at his patient over the rim of his clipboard. "Way more time than it should?" Callie didn't respond right away, instead turning her gaze to the white blanket she was fiddling with. Marie watched Callie's throat quiver as she swallowed a lump in her throat, then give an ashamed nod.

"…I can't focus." Callie finally confessed, her voice slow and heavy as if each word carried the weight of an entire ocean. "I can't no matter how hard I try." Callie refused to make eye contact with anyone in the room—and suddenly everything started to make sense.

"That's why everything takes you forever to finish." Marie thought aloud, remembering the inordinate amounts of time her cousin had marked on her calendar for line memorization. Callie managed a quiet nod, still staring at the blanket.

"And judging from that tone," Dr Krustebb clicked his pen closed. "I'd say it has really made you struggle."

"If my downtime on set was more productive, I'd be able to finish everything and sleep." Callie found words. "But it's not, and none of the tips on the Internet are helping. I trashed every single one I had printed." Marie tried to hide her wince as she mentally kicked herself. The trash can at Callie's office. If Callie was hiding something, then of course the clues would be thrown away in the trash. And Marie had looked everywhere in Callie's office…except her literally overflowing trash can. It was so obvious Marie couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it earlier.

"They're not helping because you're not lazy." The prawn put his clipboard down. "Our frontal lobes are responsible for impulse control, planning ahead, and keeping ourselves on task—especially on something monotonous. So when they aren't getting enough stimulation, you get someone who is impulsive, a poorly disorganized planner, easily distracted, and forgetful. There's a variant that makes them also act as if they're constantly 'on the go,' or 'driven by a motor.' Does that ring a bell?"

"Yeah, that's…basically Callie." Marie blinked, surprised at the doctor's accuracy. Constantly on the go? Marie couldn't think of a better way to describe Callie. Impulsive? Callie's tendency to forget to think was what made her such an easy target for pranks—especially the one at Walleye Warehouse. Easily distracted? There were times when Callie would get distracted in the middle of a conversation with Marie. Forgetful? How many times did Bluve say Callie had forgotten the password to her own computer?

"Everyone has lapses of attention here and there—and sometimes people are just spacey." Dr. Krustebb continued. "But when these symptoms start interfering with someone's quality of life—that's when it's called ADHD."

"ADHD?" Callie turned back to her doctor. "Isn't that a school thing?"

"It's a thing for adults, too." Dr. Krustebb corrected with a chuckle. "It can go undetected in grade school—especially for girls."

"But…why?" Marie asked, confused. "Why is it such a huge problem for her now all of a sudden?" Callie had been inattentive for as long as Marie could remember, but she had only been struggling for a year.

"Sometimes they can compensate until the workload becomes too difficult to hide it." The prawn crossed his claws over his chest. "In Callie's case, because she was able to chase a career in what she loved, her brain was interested enough to focus. That's why the struggle started with the switch into film acting—which requires more boring, repetitive tasks that aren't so fun."

"Huh." Callie blinked. "That…would explain a lot."

"You kidding?" Marie scoffed. "It explains more than a carp-load. So that's why you hate guard duty so much." Callie nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, they can get very restless when they're stuck in one spot." Dr. Krustebb agreed. "Fortunately there's plenty of ways to calm it down—I can recommend a specialist that can look at your case more closely. But for right now, let's focus on getting you back on your feet. We're going to keep you on a 23-hour observational stay just to make sure you're okay. I think we've done all the tests we needed for now, so we'll leave the two of you be." The prawn stood from his stool, pointing at the white button by the nightstand. "Just hit that pager over there if you need one of the nurses, they'll be on call tonight."

"You got it." Marie gave a small, grateful smile. Dr. Krustebb dipped his chin in a curt nod before closing the door behind him.

"…That was a lot to take in." Calle let out a deep exhale, rubbing at her eyebrow. "I thought I was washed up or something, or that I was just hopelessly lazy."

"Well, look at it like this." Marie shrugged. "It's your brain that can't manage time, not you. And besides, now you know all these new roller strats that you can smack Octarians with—which _is_ good info to know."

"Yeah." Callie's beak cracked into a tired smirk.

"Anyways," Marie reached into the bag Sheldon had handed to her, deciding Callie was overdue for some cheering up. "Guess what Sir Talks-a-Lot found for you." A hopeful smile lit Callie's face as she took the shellphone from her cousin.

"Do you think he fixed it?" Callie inspected her phone's casing, running a finger across the pink plastic.

"Only one way to find out." Marie leaned over the bed rail, watching Callie squeeze the power button on the side of the shellphone. The pink squid squeaked a tiny, excited squeal as the whale logo flashed before fading into Callie's home screen.

"Oh my cod…" Callie hardly had time for a disbelieving chuckle before her shellphone instantly shuddered with alert after alert from worried family and friends. She set it beside her leg, and both cousins giggled as the shellphone buzzed its way across the mattress.

"Yeah, everyone and their mother was looking for you." Marie caught the shellphone before it could headbutt itself into the bedrail, passing it back to Callie. "Good luck sorting through two week's worth of panic."

"'Good luck?'" Callie echoed with an incredulous giggle as she tapped on her messages. "I have _seven hundred_ unread texts, Marie. Seven. Hundred."

"Do you even have seven hundred numbers in your contacts?" Marie leaned over for another look.

"No!" Callie squeaked, pressing her home button. "This is totally nuts. I don't even _want_ to look at my email. Oh look—it stopped counting missed calls at a thousand."

"Let's be real though." Marie giggled back. "Ninety percent of those are just scammy robocalls." Marie's cousin snickered, the same one Marie often saw before Callie would dash off camera to recompose herself.

"Hello." Marie mocked, modulating her pitch in her best robot impression. "This is the very real 'computer assistant service,' yes I am live person. Your computer has totally legit virus and if you don't pay it will turn into a monster and eat your computer whole. Hardware and all. Press 1 now to sell us your soul for protection against this very real fake virus." She cleared her throat; the robo act was making her larynx sore. "There. You're caught up on voicemail now." Callie couldn't respond because she was too busy trying to hold her sides intact from pure, delighted laughter.

"Oh my cod," Callie wiped a tear from her eye, still recovering. "I haven't laughed that hard in forever…" Marie sank back into her armchair, almost as if someone had socked her in the gut.

"Yeah." Marie could hardly recall the last time the two of them threw their work aside and messed around with some good-natured fun. No concern for the other, no remorse, no stress, just Marie and her cousin playfully throwing shade without a care in the world.

"Remember when we created a culture?" Callie broke the silence after a long pause, almost as if she read Marie's mind.

"Remember when we changed the world?" Marie's breath nearly hitched, voice tender with nostalgia.

"Remember when we stood on top of it?" Both cousins smiled in silence, overrun with bittersweet memories. It was several moments before Callie finally spoke, looking her cousin in the eye.

"You wanna do it again?"

* * *

 **A/N: So this one's out way way late, sorry about that. This chapter was super maddening because I felt like something was really wrong with it, but I couldn't find the problem for the life of me. Maybe you folks can see it (please tell me if you do), maybe a future me can find it, or maybe there's no issue at all and I'm just being too hard on this chapter. On top of writing troubles I had to take time off to sit for the GRE, which was a whole bunch of not fun. However what _is_ in the fun category is that I'm finally cleared for contact sparring again! For those who don't know, I'd been out of full training for a while thanks to nerve damage from a previous sparring injury. As awesome as it is to be back on the mats, I took some time off writing to give my arm some rest as it makes the transition back to full training. Tldr this chapter took forever, thank you for waiting.**

 **Here's some notes on things that might need a little clarity:**

 **-I'll bet you weren't expecting to find behavioral neuroscience in a Splatoon fanfic today, haha. I had a lot of really scientific stuff to simplify, hopefully I managed to make things understandable. There's a lot more to Callie's brainwashing than what actually went into this chapter, but I have no idea if anyone actually wants to see it.**

 **-Hospitals work with a series of codes in order to respond to emergencies more efficiently. I found it really hard to believe that Cap'n Cuttlefish would put his own granddaughters in harm's way without having access to proper medical care (a field medic can't do everything), so I gave the Inkopolis hospital a code yellow for NSS agents. That way they can be honest with their doctors while still protecting the Splatoon's secrecy.**

 **-Fatigue is often known as one of the seven deadly sins of law enforcement and personal defense, because it totally kills not only your precious reaction time, but also your awareness of your environment and your ability to sense a threat. So get some sleep, and stay safe out there! Don't go wandering off into alleyways, please.**

 **-The Vulpix Incident is a reference to when Callie spent years trying to find a Vulpix in Pokemon Red when it's exclusive to Blue, and I'm pretty sure it says that right on the game's cover.**

 **-Adult ADHD is in fact a thing, and undiagnosed cases in adulthood look _really_ similar to Callie's presentation here. This is another one of those things that I have been hinting at throughout the entire story, but the majority of the hints are in Chapters 3, 6, 7 and 11.**

 **-Really important disclaimer: Dr Krustebb's questions are made up and have no diagnostic value whatsoever…because the full battery would be insanely boring to read.**

 **I'm only planning one more update. So if you have any specific questions about the story that you want me to answer in the last author's note, either PM them to me or leave them in a review, and I'll do my best to answer the ones that I can.**

 **We're almost at the finish line.**


	20. Epilogue Part 1

"Hey Gramps, it's me." Marie held her shellphone close to her beak, keeping her voice low so she wouldn't wake the rest of the house. "You're still out of shell service for whatever reason but I thought I'd leave a message with an update. I know I sounded scared before, but…everything's fine over here now. Long story short: I screwed up real bad but I fixed it."

"And I may or may not have stolen your handbook without asking…" Marie continued with a tiny smirk, rubbing her thumb over the text's purple sleeve. "But it was a huge help. I made some really good ideas with it that I think you'd have been proud of. You're coming home soon, right? I'm at Cal's house right now, so I think I'll leave it here and you can pick it up on your way back. Safe travels, yeah? I'll see you when you return." Marie lowered the phone to hang up, only to pull it back against her ear.

"And whatever you're up to…make sure you're taking your multivitamin, okay?" Marie hastily added. "I don't care if it tastes weird. I'll be asking when you get back, and I don't want any excuses on how the savior of the Great Turf War can't chew a gummy. Okay, bye for real now." She tapped "disconnect" and tossed the shellphone onto the cocktail table in front of her, ready to resume her midnight vigil. Her aunt and uncle had gone to bed early, but she knew they were hoping someone stayed awake in case Callie finally stirred from her migraine-induced sleep.

So Marie had stationed herself on the living room couch, wrapped inside a cocoon of soft blankets and listening for any hint of movement upstairs. She was about to reach for her laptop when a sudden thud echoed from the kitchen behind her. Marie calmly pushed her covers aside and strode straight toward the sound, bringing Gramps' book with her.

"So how's that SCN treating you?" Marie teased, leaning her arms on the kitchen island. A late-night Callie raiding the fridge had become a familiar sight ever since she had been released from the hospital.

"…Shut up." Callie gave a tired mumble, slipping a tiny smile from her seat on the floor. "At least I still get ice cream."

"Should I mention that your mom wanted you to eat the leftovers first?" Marie's beak cracked into a mischievous grin. The tub plopped to the floor in annoyance, and the groggy cousin reached over to pull a clump of tin foil from the open fridge.

"Meanie." Callie muttered back, unraveling the foil to reveal twelve pieces of catfish steak. Marie only snickered, turning around in search of a fork. She fished a gold-plated one from the drawer before dumping the steak onto a paper plate and shoving it inside the microwave. Marie poked a few buttons before pressing start, then spared a glance at her best friend. Callie's left hand had moved to her hip, absently scratching at the skin under her nightshirt.

"Don't itch it." Marie was quick to correct her cousin. "You're just gonna mess it up and make it look worse."

"It's really itchy." Callie huffed in discomfort, shaking the fabric of her pink shirt. "I must've had this tattoo for like two weeks already—why's it so dang itchy? It's super hard not to scratch."

"Then try not to think about it." Marie softened her tone. She knew Callie never wanted the tattoo, but it was better to be stuck with a well-kept one instead of some blurry blob. "Talk to me instead. How's the migraine? You're looking a little better, at least."

"Yeah, hangover's not so bad this time." Callie hoisted a hand to massage her sore neck. "But…" She paused for a tired yawn. "…but everythin' is still achy. How the carp a headache manages to make the rest of me hurt, I'll never know."

"That's still an improvement." The microwave dinged, and Marie punched the big button to open the appliance's door. She tugged the warm paper plate from the microwave, stabbing the fork into a piece of steak before passing it to Callie. The poor thing had slept the whole day away—she had to be ravenous.

A comfortable silence fell between the two cousins as Marie waited for Callie to eat her steak. The green squid gave a sleepy yawn as her unfocused eyes landed on the living room, her mind starting to wander. She watched Callie toss the empty plate aside in favor of the ice cream, but Marie soon lost the wherewithal for another wisecrack. Something had found its way back into her mind, a thought so cumbersome Marie had forbade it from her consciousness to focus on saving Callie.

"Hey, uh..." Marie finally swallowed the sudden, uneasy lump in her throat. "I wanted to ask you something."

"What's up?" Callie dug a scoop of ice cream from the tub, holding the spoon out to her cousin. "Want some?"

Marie declined Callie's offer with a wave of her hand, then drew a stressed breath. "…We're good, right?"

"Yeah, 'course." Callie shoveled the scoop into her beak as her black eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "We're totally good—always. Why wouldn't we be?"

"It's just…" Marie paused to fold her arms, gathering both her thoughts and her guts. "…I wasn't sure. I didn't like how things ended with our last Splatfest, and I didn't like that it put this awkward space between us. I'm worried the win went to my head, and that I didn't stop to consider your side of the stage." Marie swallowed, looking her cousin in the eye. "Be honest. How did you really feel when I won the Splatfest? Were you jealous or upset that Inkopolis picked me over you?"

Callie instead gawked at her cousin as if Marie had spontaneously propelled herself into space, spoon still sticking out of the pink squid's mouth. She stayed like that for a good ten seconds, maybe more.

"Have you _met_ me?" Callie finally remembered to take the spoon out of her mouth, catching the utensil before it fell. "Do I look like the kinda squid that would hold a grudge?"

"I'm pretty sure you still have that dart board with Enome's face on it." Marie offered a toothless jab with a comforted chuckle. Callie's reply might have been total disbelief, but it was a relief to be ridiculous rather than right.

"Okay that—" Callie aimed her spoon at her cousin. "—is different. Enome's a sociopathic, irredeemable piece of squit. You're not. You're my best friend, and there's absolutely zero reason for me to be upset with you." The spoon dropped to her lap as Callie slumped back into bewilderment. "Dear cod Marie, you've been worrying about this the whole time?"

"Well maybe not the _whole_ time." Marie hastened to clarify. "But…a while, yeah."

"Then why didn't you say anything sooner?!" The genuine exasperation in Callie's flailing arms was almost comedic. "Marie, I love ya like a sister—but I am _so_ ready to slap you right now. Look at me, 'kay?" Marie quit her staring contest with the floor, sensing her cousin meant business.

"Why in all of heck would I be upset with the whole city agreeing with me on the simple fact that you are one awesome squid?"

"Callie, I…" Marie was quickly losing words; sometimes Callie's unconditional support was simply baffling. "…Thanks. I just…" She pushed her shoulders into an unsure shrug. "…I don't want to lose our friendship over silly things that I should've done something about."

"Nuh-uh." Callie's spoon was back in the fray, waving around like a teacher's chastising finger. "That was my bad. Not yours. That blame doesn't belong to anyone but me." Marie furrowed her brows instead of responding, tilting her head in confusion.

"…Oh." Callie's eyes widened as her back sank against the kitchen counter. "You didn't notice. Well, as long as it's real talk time—" She straightened her posture, hoisting her back from the cupboard's door. "—It wasn't just you. I had stopped chatting with everybody. Bluve. Mom. Dad. I didn't want to tell anyone what was going on."

"Why didn't you?" Marie had to think for a minute. Callie was right; more than one cephalopod had mentioned her withdrawal.

"Just the idea was embarrassing back then." Callie shook her head. "Shoddy focus looks undisciplined. Everybody hates undisciplined. Taking two hours to start something looks lazy. Everybody hates lazy. And I thought _I_ was the problem—so I sucked it up, kept quiet, and worked harder. Of course others caught on, but I'd pretend everything was fine because I _really_ wanted it to be."

"But I was soooo wrong." Callie's shoulders huffed in a reminiscent chuckle, only to wince and massage her sore neck again. "You know I can't last two seconds without talking to someone. I was overwhelmed, exhausted, scared, ashamed—but worst of all—alone. I had to handle this monster all by myself, and that just made everything worse."

"And that was the screw-up that started everything, I get that now." Callie dropped her hand. "But hey, look at all the good that came out of it! I had to like actually spill the krill about what was going on; and I don't think that would have happened if I didn't have both you and a doctor staring at me with a brain scan in hand. And I still hated to admit it, but you know what? I'm glad I did."

"Because you're not lazy." Marie muttered.

"Or crazy!" Callie bounced with newfound energy. "I'm just me, like you said. And now I've got everything I need to stay focused, so things can only go up from here. Plus—I have superpowers now! Check this out—" Callie's words suddenly became unintelligible garble, until Marie realized her cousin had effortlessly switched from Inklish to Octolish.

"Um…" Marie finally blinked as her brain scrambled to translate Callie's foreign words. "…What?"

"Pretty weird, right?" Callie replied in Inklish, proudly grinning at her cousin. "I sometimes catch myself even thinking in Octolish now."

"That's…plain freaky." Marie huffed a disbelieving scoff. She was no master at the language herself, but Marie had always been more fluent in Octolish than Callie was. And—after an unknown stint in enemy captivity—she could suddenly speak better than Marie? "How did you learn so quickly?"

"I. Have. No. Clue." Callie chuckled, eyes wide with wonder. "I was as surprised as you were when it just…fell out the other day. Though I guess…" She paused, absently tapping the spoon to her chin as she finished thinking. "…I guess being constantly surrounded by natives for like a month will do that to you. Especially when they probs talked to you in nothing but Octolish."

"You could say that." Marie felt a wave of relief wash over her. Callie's lack of memory meant whatever she had gone through while brainwashed was wildly uncertain, and Marie hadn't liked her theories. But her cousin's ability to casually twist it into a quirky fun fact was a good sign; it meant she was going to be okay.

"Anyways, I didn't like that we weren't in touch either." Callie let out a sigh. "Two years without contact is too long. I'm glad we're back to the good ol' camaraderie."

"Me too." Marie gave a tiny smile.

"And if all this made us pals again, then was it really so bad?"

"That's..." Marie gave a half-impressed, half-relieved chuckle at Callie's antics. "You have a crazily optimistic way of thinking about things. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised." Callie was the queen of positivity after all; and the master of swimming with the current. Marie didn't need to worry about her cousin or how things were between the two of them. "Thanks. I feel a lot better now."

"Good." Callie's eyes squeezed shut as her beak opened into a huge yawn. "Operation 'Smack Sense into Marie' is a success. I repeat, Operation 'Smack Sense into Marie' is a…" Another yawn. "…success."

"Aaaand Operation 'Get Back into Bed' is a go." Marie finally pushed herself off the kitchen island, grabbing Gramps' book with one hand and holding the other out to her cousin. "C'mon, snacktime's over."

"But I don't wanna…" The pink squid whined, closing her eyes. "I've slept the whole day away. When do I get to do actually fun stuff? I haven't looked at our new song in forever."

"You can look at it when you can keep your eyes open." Marie shelved the book on the nearby countertop to help a very reluctant Callie to her feet. "You're still recovering so you need all the rest you can get. We can play with the new single tomorrow, once you can last twenty minutes without switching off like a robot."

"That was just the one time…" Marie ignored Callie's complaint and led her upstairs, leaving the purple-sleeved book waiting for its old master on the kitchen countertop.

* * *

"HOLY CARP!" Pearl nearly toppled her chair in surprise, her excited eyes flicking back and forth as she read the teleprompter behind the camera. "Callie's been found! Are you guys seeing this?" Marina didn't respond, instead holding her forehead and exhaling relieved breaths. Delta cracked a smile as she held the Splattershot's tank against her white v-neck.

"Talk about breaking news—and just after the Great Zapfish's return!" Pearl was too excited to quiet down. "We're gonna have one heck of a grand finals, y'all!" Delta grabbed the remote, shutting her TV off. She grabbed the rest of her Splattershot and lined the tank up to the shooter's hatch before screwing it back into position. After a little tug to ensure it was secure, the Splattershot's maintenance was complete.

It was likely the last maintenance Delta would ever give her weapon while it was in service. Cuttlegear had promised new weapons for both Kai and herself, and she was about to pick their presents up. And Delta planned to spend the rest of the afternoon packing once she got back; she still had a long way to go if the tournament admins wanted players out of their apartments by the end of the week. Delta still needed to find an extra bag for the medicinal creams and lotions she had bought to help aches and pains from NSS missions. And then there was the ever-growing pile of animal plushies Delta had amassed from more than a few secret shopping sprees. Finding a way to hide her guilty pleasures from the boys—and pretty much any passerby ever—would be the biggest challenge of moving out.

Delta gently slipped her Splattershot back into its case and stood from the couch, grabbing her face mask on the way to the front door. She slipped it over her head, but froze once her hand touched the doorknob.

Delta turned around to give her apartment another once-over. She had first entered the flat with a backpack and a bag of toiletries, intent on just marching her way through Nationals and leaving nothing behind once the tournament was over. But Delta would need at least two suitcases to bring her belongings back to Echo's Edge, and she would still be leaving behind a life that she never expected to love. At first Inkopolis was a noisy, hectic, overstimulating crowd to the rural farm girl—but now the hustle and bustle was just a part of her own pulse. Delta had grown to love the city, and she hadn't realized until it was almost time to leave.

Delta gave an irritated huff, expelling her doleful thoughts with a shake of her head. Delta hated goodbyes, and dwelling on things now would only upset her right before her big talk with Dylan and the rest of Entrenched. She turned the doorknob and slipped outside, taking care to lock the door behind her. She looked up, her royal blue eyes flicking to the moving notice taped to her door. Delta made her way down the stairs, reminding herself to ask Marie what would happen to her duties as Agent 4 once she left the city. She would have loved to stay, but Delta could only imagine how expensive Inkopolis apartments were; any reasonable cost was undoubtedly out of the question.

"Ah—there she is!" Kai pointed a finger from the lobby once Delta stepped onto the final landing. "You took your sweet time, huh?"

"I was just tending to weapons, getting the place packed up." Delta smirked as she walked over to the rest of the team.

"She means she was saying long requited goodbyes to her beloved Splattershot." Kai chuckled at his joke, elbowing the sheepish Dylan next to him. "Am I right, Dyl'?"

"Hehe, sure." Dylan gave a nervous chuckle, staring at his shifting feet. "Sounds about right."

Delta pursed her lips ever so slightly. She had been able to settle things with Kai and Addam but had to infiltrate Cephalon HQ before she could speak with Dylan. Their tiff had been the worst of the two, and Dylan was clearly uncomfortable around her without a resolution to the outburst. Delta had wanted to talk to him, but a personal discussion in front of the others was _definitely_ not a good idea.

"Okay, should we get moving?" Delta broke the brief silence. "We're picking up at Ammo Knights, right?"

"Yep." Kai instantly pivoted to his left, leading his team out the front door. "Most of the folks at Cuttlegear couldn't meet with us, so they shipped our new gear to Sheldon. Sounds like he'll be walking us through our stuff."

"Ah." Delta cracked a tiny smirk behind Kai. "Good thing I've got nothing on my schedule."

* * *

"Hey guys!" Sheldon's goggles popped over the brass countertop. "Glad you all could make it. Let me just finish this one thing…" He tapped the black tablet in his hands, looking directly at Delta. "…and we'll get started!"

"Okay!" Kai grinned a cheery reply, oblivious to Sheldon's hidden message. "No worries, we'll just look around 'till you're ready." Entrenched's leader moseyed toward the glass display of dualies with Addam close by. Dylan slunk away to browse the sub weapons in the opposite corner, but Delta took Sheldon's hint and made her way to the horseshoe crab.

"So what's he up to?" Agent 4 casually rested her forearms on the countertop, taking care to keep her voice quiet.

"A whole lot of grumbling, and not much of escaping." Sheldon rose into a tiptoe to place the tablet on the counter for Delta to see. "Looks like Two left her music on loop before she left the city." Delta spun the tablet around to find a camera feed of Octavio stuck inside the snowglobe, arms crossed and glowering at anything that moved in Tentakeel Outpost. He was especially grumpy at the squirrel that loved to climb all over his snowglobe.

"Yeah, he's definitely not a happy camper." Delta passed the tablet back to Sheldon. "You think you have him under control?"

"Oh, totally." Sheldon plopped back onto his heels. "Neither you nor Two need to worry. These snowglobes are impressively built; he's not getting out of there on his own. My cameras are just a precaution, to be honest."

"Hey, Delta?" Entrenched's centerfielder turned around to find Dylan behind her, nervously rubbing at the back of his neck. "Can we talk for a minute?" Delta cast a nervous glance at Sheldon, who mouthed a subtle "good luck" before disappearing into his storage room.

"Sure, what's up?" Delta's query was more of a formality. She could already guess what Dylan wanted to say, but let him start the topic all the same.

"So I, uh, wanted to apologize for the other day." Dylan's hand came off the nape of his neck. "I shouldn't have pried, and I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. What you do is your business, and I need to respect that. I need to just trust that whatever it is you know what you're doing—"

"Dylan, stop." Delta held a hand up. "It's fine—you're not in the wrong. If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me. It's not fair to make others worry like that. And it's certainly unfair to leave you with the wrong impression." The centerfielder hesitated for a moment, her tongue nervously flicking across her fangs. Delta knew she wasn't very good at what came next.

"So let me make it up to you." Delta swallowed her nerves, looking Dylan in the eye. "I know we have to focus on finishing the tournament—but once grand finals is over, I'll take you somewhere." Dylan blinked in front of her; Delta was sure he was wondering if he heard that right.

"Wait." Dylan began, processing. "As a…" He didn't finish his sentence, because the way Delta stared back at him already gave the answer. Dylan's eyes widened.

"Okay, then." Dylan cracked a happy smile. "I'd like that."

"So…" Sheldon poked his shell out of the storage room. "Are you guys ready to get started?"

"Yeah, we're raring to go!" Kai cluelessly jogged his way over while Delta gave a tiny nod, exhaling a relieved breath. The hard part was over.

"All right!" Sheldon shoved the door until it smacked against the wall and plopped a stack of black suitcases onto the countertop. "I've got your new weapons right here. Cuttlegear doesn't have much in the way of civilian shooters and dualies, so they let me pick whatever. Kai's the top case so we might as well start with him." He paused to unbuckle the blank suitcase, spinning it around so Kai could do the honors.

"Oooohhh, nice!" Kai pulled a dapple dualie from the case. "And it's the clear version, too!"

"I'm glad you noticed!" Sheldon quickly burst into a grin. "The clear dapples only recently hit the market—and I designed it myself—but with their torpedo bomb and splashdown are easily one of the…"

Delta tuned out, not wanting to interrupt the crab but wholly uninterested in his ramblings. Her thoughts turned to Dylan as he slid into her periphery, jamming his hands into his pockets. She snuck a glance at the brella main, noting his convex cheekbones and contented smile. Dylan was happy, all right.

"And now, onto the young lady!" Sheldon's words snapped Delta back to reality. The engineer slid Kai's case off to the side as Agent 4 stepped in front of the familiar black suitcase. Her fingers hovered over the buckles, and she looked at Sheldon with a smug smile.

"I swear," Delta poked a finger at the case. "If this is a Rainmaker…"

Her joke got a few confused chuckles out of Dylan and the boys, but Sheldon heartily laughed with Delta's giggles. The inside joke was just too perfect.

"Nah, unfortunately." Sheldon replied with a grin. "I'd only give _that_ out if the whole darn city was in danger." Delta scrunched her face in her best effort to contain her laughter. Her fingers swiped through the case's buckles, lifting the lid in an effort to escape the joke and move on.

The shooter that stared back at her was a bronze-plated assault rifle, looking not unlike a repurposed ballpoint pen. A large pressure gauge sat above a cylindrical tank that ended in the tiniest muzzle Delta had ever seen. The rivets around the barrel told her that it moved—that would explain the stabilizing weights attached to either side.

"Meet the Neo Splash-o-matic!" Sheldon's voice sounded from behind the weapon's case. "It might not look like much, but this mad crab is deadlier than an Ultra Stamp when it's in the right hands. Those little brass weights—" Sheldon pushed the case's lid down to point at the cylinders connected to the barrel by slim, bronze tubes. "—wiggle back and forth when the weapon fires, which stabilizes the recoil and makes the shot suuuuper accurate. Couple that with the tiniest muzzle possible and your ink isn't going anywhere except _exactly_ where you want it to. And its pressure system gives it one of the fastest rates of fire in the industry!"

"Besides..." Sheldon vanished under the counter, reappearing with a square brown box. "The Neo Splash-o-matic fits so well with your new outfit, it's no contest." The Inkling raised an eyebrow, not expecting new garb on top of the presented shooter. She reached a hand inside and fished out a pair of dark pilot goggles. Delta quickly replaced the camo mask with them, ready to try on her new gifts. She switched her sneakers for the brown moto boots and pulled the custom F-3 jacket over her white v-neck.

"Look at that!" Sheldon grinned at Delta's new look. "That style suits you perfectly!"

"You look _great_." Dylan almost sounded breathless. "So…you."

"Thanks." Delta smiled as she fiddled with the buckles on her new jacket. She really liked it. Dylan was 100% percent right; Delta had never felt so at home with a civilian outfit. The Neo Splash-o-matic fit her competitive playstyle like a shell, and…

 _Wait a minute._ Delta switched hands on her Splash-o-matic to get a better look at what had caught her eye. Five little stickers sat near the bottom of the shooter: a red octopus on the far left, two Squid Sisters on the far right, and a 4 with a Rainmaker between them.

"All right!" Kai clapped his hands together before Delta could say anything "Thanks for the gear, but we gotta go make sure this stuff is ready for loser's finals in a couple days. See ya around, Sheldon!"

"Don't mention it!" Sheldon called after Entrenched as they filed themselves out the door. "Remember to kick their butts!"

"Camp Triggerfish should be open for some practice." Dylan offered while Delta snuck a second glance at the stickers on her Neo Splash-o-matic. "I know it's not where the match is gonna be, but its slim avenues should help get us real good with handling the new stuff."

"How 'bout we meet in an hour?" Delta spoke up before pausing for a decent enough reason. "I have some packing that I still want to finish."

"Heh, why am I not surprised." Kai gave a knowing smirk, waving her off with a flick of his hand. "Go—finish your Splattershot goodbyes. We'll meet you there when the ritual is over."

"You're gonna regret those words." Delta replied with a conniving grin as she backed her way toward the apartments, eager to examine the Neo Splash-o-matic further. "See you then."

Kai did in fact regret those words.

* * *

Delta had gotten as far as her apartment door when she stopped in her tracks, wondering why the green moving slip had vanished from her door. She looked to her left…maybe the custodian had knocked it over while vacuuming the hallway?

"Hey, uh…" Delta called over the whir of the vacuum. "I think you need another sign here."

"Nah, don't think so." The jellyfish pulled an earbud from his gelatinous head. "Landlord says it ain't ours anymore." Delta furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, but the custodian simply popped his earbud back in and continued vacuuming. She turned back to the door and was about to pull her keys from her pocket when she noticed a wedge of light peeking from the open doorframe. Delta stared it down, remembering she had not only closed but locked her door before leaving for Ammo Knights. Someone had been in her apartment.

Delta swallowed hard before looking back at the jellyfish. Attempting to clear a potentially dangerous area alone was almost never sanctioned in training. She would normally call for backup, but she didn't want to put the Splatoon's secrecy at risk if the break-in was related to the NSS. And—more importantly—whomever she called for help would notice the giant pile of animal plushies…and Delta would rather face the entire Octarian army alone than expose her stuffed animal secrets.

Agent 4 swiped a pen from a nearby folder shelf and clicked its tip open with a thumb to its rear button. She held it to her chest, ready to stab at anyone who tried to jump her. Delta's free hand hovered above the door as she took a deep breath, silently wishing she had spent more time studying defense with pens.

Delta gave the door a shove but instantly slid back to avoid any surprise attacks. Nothing happened, so she pushed the door until it halted against the inside wall—no one was behind the thing either. Delta cautiously slipped inside—at least the entryway was clear. There was no one in the living room, no one in her bedroom, no one in her kitchen. Even the bathroom was clear of intruders. She exhaled a relieved sigh and pocketed the pen—whoever came through the place didn't stick around to ambush her. She walked through her apartment again, this time searching for anything that might have been stolen or tampered with. But nothing was missing, her kitchen was in perfect order…wait, was that Zapfish poster always there?

Delta took a cautious few steps toward the decoration in question. She definitely hadn't seen it before…and Agent 4 clearly remembered the white wall above her couch was bare. The poster itself depicted the Great Zapfish flying out of a rocky canyon, twisting itself into a fishhook resembling the Inkling number 4—definitely different from any of the more popular Zapfish artwork. Delta leaned a shoulder against her living room wall, trying to get a look behind the mysterious sheet of paper. Now that she was an agent, disguised bombs were likely on her list of things to worry about.

But there was nothing behind the poster—just white paint. Delta stood on her couch and ran a careful finger along the back of the paper, but found no wires or wads of C4. She huffed an exasperated breath and stepped off the couch, resting her hands on her hips. Delta figured the thing was safe…for now. She pulled her shellphone from her pocket and sat down, tapping Marie's number for a video call. She would know what to do.

The call rang three times before Delta's screen shifted into an unrecognizable camera feed of a pink blob below a dark green ceiling, and a cocktail table that was…upside down?

"Oh carp, hang on…" Callie's voice muttered through Delta's receiver as the video spun around—and the cocktail table turned rightside up, the ceiling switched to a rug, and the pink blob turned into Callie. "There we go! Heya, Four!"

"Hey Callie." Delta gave a confused smile, checking the caller id to make sure she hadn't tapped the wrong number. Nope, she had called Marie like she meant to. "Where's your cousin? There's this weird—"

"OH!" Callie suddenly slapped her sofa's armrest. "You're back at your place, aren'tcha? Yeah, I'll get her—MARIE!" The peppy pop star wrapped her other arm around the couch's cushions, shouting at something off-camera. "MARIE! DELTA FOUND THE APARTMENT!"

"How do you…" Marie groggily wandered into frame, rubbing the back of her head before opening a lazy eye to look at the camera. "…Oh. That's where my shellphone went. Hey, Delta." Marie yawned as she sat next to Callie on the couch, rewrapping her white bathrobe around her pajamas and ignoring her cousin's quizzical look.

"It's four-thirty in the afternoon." Callie blurted out, clearly forgetting they were in the middle of a call. "Are you ever gonna get dressed today?"

"No." Marie scoffed, as if her answer was plainly obvious. "I saved the city. I think I've earned a couple pajama days." Callie gave an approving frown, and Marie turned back to the camera. "So—wondering why your place looks a little different?"

"Um, you mean the poster?" Delta tilted her own phone upwards to show the paper in question. "How…did you guys know about that?"

"I may or may not have 'convinced' one of the maintenance guys to sneak a present or two into your apartment while you were at Sheldon's." Marie added with a sly smile. "Just a couple little things to say 'thanks.'"

"Oh my cod..." Delta grumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose in embarrassment. "I should've known it was you."

"Why?" Callie tilted her head in curiosity. "What did you think it was? A bomb?"

Delta didn't respond, pursing her lips.

"Oh my cod." Callie's eyes lit up with realization as she laughed. "You _totally_ thought it was a bomb! See Marie—" She jammed her elbow into her cousin's side. "—I told you we should've hidden that camera."

"That's totally you." Marie slipped a knowing smile, elbowing her cousin back with a little extra force. "Random new thing? Never mind the fact that it's got a Great Zapfish coming out of a _canyon_ and rising in the shape of a _4_ —nah that's a total coincidence. Must be a bomb." Callie attempted another elbow, but this time Marie was prepared and nonchalantly shoved her cousin off the sofa. "Stellar vigilance though. You were thinking along the right lines, just…" Marie stifled a laugh.

"And you said there was more?" Delta removed her hand, not entirely sure if she wanted to know the answer to that question. Missing more stuff would've been a major hit to her already wounded pride in situational awareness.

"Yep!" Callie climbed back up on the couch, casting her cousin one final glare before turning back to the camera. "It's a big one but you're gonna like it. Marie, you wanna do the honors?"

"So I was thinking…" Marie hadn't missed a beat, picking up right where Callie left off. "You said you wanted to stay on the Splatoon, right?" Delta nodded, remembering their conversation just before the team had left the hospital.

"Well, I figured it would help if you had a place to stay in the city. So…" Marie leaned on her forearms, looking straight at the camera.

"Callie and I bought your apartment off the landlord. It's yours now."

"…Wait, what?" Delta blankly stared at her mentor, processing Marie's words. "Did I hear that right? You…bought it?"

"Yep." Marie's beak broke into a grin.

"And gave it to me?"

"Yep."

"So all of this is mine now?"

"You can rephrase the question all you want; my answer's not gonna change."

"I know, I know." Delta tsked at Marie's quip, leaning onto her couch's cushions and running a hand through her tentacles. "I didn't even think it was for sale."

"It wasn't, at first." Callie piped up. "But everythin' goes on sale when the right squids name the right price."

"That means…you bought it way above its market value." Delta was beyond stunned; people don't casually buy apartments for friends, and they especially don't haggle it off the seller with an even pricier offer.

"Yeah." Marie gave a nonchalant shrug. "We have that kind of money."

"Boy, is that an understatement." Callie scoffed as Delta's brain quietly tried to process. "Marie's robe here cost her over two thousand coins. I could've bought more than five hundred burgers with that money. Five. Hundred."

"Oh, but its comfort is worth every coin." Marie leaned against the back of her sofa, snuggling inside the robe's reef patterning. "Silk on the outside, fluffy cotton on the inside…best purchase I've ever made."

"You guys…" Delta finally managed to find words. The rural farm girl wasn't used to gifts or gratitude—let alone an entire apartment presented as casually as a thank-you card. "This is way too much. You didn't have to do any of this."

"Trust me." Marie's head sprouted from her cocoon. "These little gifts don't even make a dent in the massive debt that we owe you. You're the best agent I could have ever asked for."

"Oh come on." Delta smiled through the touched twist in her gut. "I didn't do anything special. Just fired a rifle and put up with Sheldon every now and then."

"Wow." Callie gawked, still staring at the camera. "You were totally right, Marie. She's _so_ modest."

"I know." Marie flashed her mischievous snicker. "I swear she's the hardest squid to thank. It's not like she saved the entire city or anything—pfft, as if anyone could be _that_ heroic. Oh wait—" Delta's mentor looked away, holding a teasing finger to her chin. "—That _is_ what she did. Huh."

Agent 4's back fell against her couch's cushion, resigning to the Squid Sisters' insistence. She was getting an embarrassing amount of praise, whether she liked it or not.

"You're the best because you're a protector, but that's not because you like the thrill of the fight." Marie continued. "You're a protector because you have some good hearts. I remember you didn't want to stick your neck out for the NSS at first—and you knew you didn't have to. But you did it anyway." The green squid paused to reposition herself on the sofa, this time sitting with her slippers on the floor.

"You did it because I needed your help." Marie rested her forearms on her knees, staring straight through the screen. "Plain and simple. And you continued because the Zapfish needed your help."

"Yeah, and then I got injured." Delta interjected with a mumble.

"Exactly!" Marie snapped a finger. "And your personal life took a hit, too. I would've totally understood if you stopped there—but you didn't. Why? Because everyone in Inkopolis needed your help." Delta's mentor dropped her hand with a warm, rare smile. "Every time you set foot inside a kettle, you did it for someone else—including me. I wanted you to know that didn't go unnoticed, and it sure as squit isn't going un-thanked."

Delta wiped a tear from her eye.

"You've been a hero to me," Marie placed a palm to her chest. "For being there for me when I couldn't turn to anyone else…"

Callie held her index finger up, nodding enthusiastically.

"…you've been a hero to almost fifty baby Zapfish for breaking them from their cages…"

Callie added a finger.

"…you rescued the Great Zapfish itself, let Sheldon live his dark ops fantasy, you're a hero to everyone in Inkopolis even if they don't know it…"

Callie's focus had trailed off, dazedly staring to her right and shoulders swaying from side to side.

"…and you could even say you're a hero to the Octolings we liberated with the Inkantation." Marie finally finished her list, snapping Callie back to reality. The pink squid looked at her lagging fingers, then dropped her hand with a shrug and mouthed "you get the point."

"And it's thanks to you that this annoying squid is back in town." Marie gave her cousin a final, vindictive elbow.

"Me?" Callie pointed a finger at her chest, feigning offense. "Annoying? You wanna see annoying? Hey Delta—" Her head snapped toward the camera, eyes glinting with wild mischief. "Did'ya know that Marie _loves_ tacos? Loves 'em. Wants the whole world to know—"

"Would you shut it?!" A deep blue Marie nearly tackled her cousin in defense of her pride, but Delta was already giggling through her touched tears.

"You looked at me like you had solved world hunger!" Callie only laughed harder, effortlessly pushing Marie's attack away. "Oh my cod…what kinda cousin would I be if I ever let you forget that?"

" _Anyways_." Marie hissed after shooting the deadliest of death glares at her cousin. "Back to what I was saying before _someone_ decided to derail me." Callie replied with an innocent, happy grin.

Marie finally turned back to Delta, her face returning to a normal cream. "I know how much the city's grown on you—it's not hard to notice. You can go back home whenever you want, but know that you don't have to give up the life you've made for yourself here. You're always welcome in Inkopolis."

"Okay guys." Delta choked a sob back. "Now you're really gonna make me cry."

"Okay okay." Marie held her hands in surrender, then pursed her lips. "…One more gift."

"No."

"Yes!" A tiny squeak escaped from Callie. "It's an itty-bitty one—promise. Since Marie and I are gonna hit the stage soon and start grabbing gigs again, we wanted to know if you wanted any tickets to our concerts. Just let us know if ya do!"

"Actually, I might take you up on that." Delta ventured, eyes widening as if a lightbulb sparked inside her head. "I have a favor to ask…"


	21. Epilogue Part 2

"So don't freak out, guys." Kai paced back and forth in one of the Deca Tower's private team lobbies. "Keep your cool. It's just grand finals—nothing like 'our-biggest-dream-since-we-started-and-we're-up against-the-team-that-publicly-embarrasses-us' or anything. Oh yeah—and don't forget the sardinium trophy and the giant twenty thousand-coin check—but hey no need to be nervous or anything."

"Uh-huh." Delta tugged at her Neo Splash-o-matic's tank, ensuring it was secure. "That was a very convincing statement, Kai. The nervous pacing really brings it home."

"M-hmm." Addam hummed from his seat on a nearby bench, almost boxed in by his massive Hydra Splatling.

"All right, all right." Kai plopped onto the bench next to Addam's Splatling, raising a hand to run his fingers through his tentacles—only to discover he had already clipped his helmet on. A chime came from the monitor on the wall in Entrenched's waiting room, and the screen showed a countdown over Skipper Pavilion's image. Five minutes before grand finals began.

"Welcome, Entrenched." A female, computerized voice sounded over the speakers as the white on the LED walls swept to blue. "Your color for your match is…" Unnecessary pause.

"ELECTRIC. BLUE." A totally different computer voice finished. Delta heard a stressed chuckle from the others; even a computer's voice could be considered funny when their nerves were through the roof. But the laughter soon faded into the faint cheers of the absolutely massive crowd in the Square, ecstatic for the last match of the tournament.

Delta's mind unwillingly slipped into her memories of quarter finals. Entrenched had failed miserably against Indigone in front of almost the entire city. She could still remember the sharp shame she felt after realizing that one of her worst fears had come true in the most terrifying way possible. And that crowd was only a tiny fraction of the number that would be watching grand finals. Turf War always had a place in Inkling culture, so it wouldn't be just Inkopolis tuning in.

It would be the entire country.

The stakes this time were significantly higher, and Entrenched had lost the safety net that was loser's bracket. If they lost against Indigone a second time, they were out—and Indigone had won by a tsunami in quarter finals. Sure, Delta's bad leg was a major factor in that loss and her knee was in much better shape for grand finals—but what if Indigone could have crushed them regardless? What if Entrenched couldn't hit their stride again? What if her knee wasn't as good as she thought it was? What if she let her team down once again?

"Think about it like this:" Dylan broke the silence from his seat beside Delta, unfurling his Sorella Brella to test its hinges. "We can be grateful for just making it this far. No matter how this match goes, we'll still be in the top two. Top _two_." He raised two fingers for emphasis. "Out of sixty-four of the best teams the whole nation has to offer. That's a huge achievement; just stepping on that spawn pad is a prize in and of itself."

Dylan slid his brella shut, and Delta caught a glimpse of the Squid Sisters decal on the inside of the canopy before it closed. So he had moved the sticker over when he changed brellas—she had always wondered that.

"So we should just get out there and enjoy the moment." Dylan continued, oblivious to Delta's little catch. "Y'know? This is a perfect chance to play against a really good team. We should just relax and have fun. Really let ourselves loose and enjoy a top-level match."

"Yeah." Kai cracked a small, consoled smile. "You're totally right. It's about the sport from here on out, not the clout." A little buzz vibrated against her thigh, and Delta pulled her shellphone from her pocket to find two messages from the contact named 2. Delta opened them up to find a picture of Callie grinning at the camera from her seat on the couch, her face coated in electric blue paint.

" _Someone's rooting for you._ " Marie's second message read. Delta snuck a smile, and was about to stow her shellphone away when three little dots bounced along the bottom of the chat log. She hesitated, waiting for Marie to finish typing.

" _Go get em, tigerfish._ " Marie had hit send, and Delta tightened her grip on her camo-patterned case. Her mentor might have been vague, but the agent still understood what she had meant. No matter how intimidating they might make themselves out to be, no one on Indigone had fought a tigerfish with little more than a rock. No one on Indigone had halted the Octarian threat and saved Callie. No one on Indigone could say they took a Rainmaker to Octavio's face. Indigone might talk the talk, but it was Delta who walked the walk. She had evolved into a full NSS operative, and Turf War was child's play in comparison. The real deal put Delta's performance anxiety into perspective: if she could handle a 4v1 against enemy Octolings trying to kill her, Delta could handle a friendly grand finals.

The monitor on the wall belted a loud beep as the countdown hit zero. The spawn pad on the other side of the room splashed to life, swishing with blue ink. It was time.

"All right, guys." Kai heaved himself to his feet. "Everybody ready?"

"Ready." Delta gave a curt nod.

"Ready." Dylan gripped his brella a little harder.

 _Thunk_ , Addam's Splatling replied.

"Okay." Kai drew one last calm breath. "Let's go; wouldn't do for gladiators to keep their fans waiting."

* * *

"Ladies and gentlesquids!" The announcer began the moment Entrenched landed at their spawn point in Skipper Pavilion. "It's time for the moment we've all been waiting for! Welcome to grand finals!"

Roaring cheers boomed from the live audience. There were a _lot_ of them, Delta realized; crabs and jellies filled eight jumbo-sized lifeboats floating on the lake south of the stage. She made the mistake of looking up to find the rest of the audience—Inklings and liberated Octolings spectating from gigantic blimps hovering over Skipper Pavilion. The place was packed full with spectators wherever they could fit, and they all screamed like hatchlings on Squidmas Day.

"In the blue spawn…" The announcer continued as Delta nudged Dylan, signaling to both him and Kai to advance toward the center ledges. "…we have Entrenched, who have battled their way through loser's bracket for another chance at first place!"

More shouts, especially from the ring of jellyfish to the left—they must have tied themselves together to squeeze all five into one seat. Delta's eyes wafted to the closest hot-air balloon and she caught sight of a familiar Octoling leaning over the basket, sporting the beginner's basic tee and white headband wrapped around slim tentacles. The agent had never noticed that Ayla's eyes were a honeyed hazel.

"And in the yellow, we have Indigone—the team that sent them to loser's in the first place!" The announcer's mention of the returning champions earned him even more screams from the audience—which helped Delta return her focus to the match. Ayla was only in the city because she had heard the Calamari Inkantation, which meant she was harmless. "Has Entrenched learned from their mistakes, or will Indigone simply prove too strong a foe to conquer? Either way, we're in for a splatacular showdown the moment the horn blows!"

Delta's hips dropped into a crouch as endolphins dumped a low hum into Delta's ears, drowning the audience's eager whoops.

One heartbeat. Nothing.

Two heartbeats. Nothing.

Three heartbeats. Nothing.

The sharp toot of the airhorn nearly stopped her hearts entirely.

Delta's hips sprang forward, keeping to Dylan's left and spraying electric blue at anything she could see. He disappeared to contest a familiar laser sight as Delta charged downstage, hurling two Burst Bombs at the Pavilion's far corner before bolting to the mudskipper statue on her right.

"Torpedo's on Feer." Delta overheard Kai as she dropped into the last of her ink to recharge her tank. "…Got him! Flung that thing just above his cover!"

"Nice, man." Dylan replied over the screaming cheers of the audience. "Now slip 'round the back and take the temple zone, will ya? I'll hold the other two here." Other two? One opponent was unaccounted for—and likely heading towards her. Delta sprang into kid form and pressed her back against the statue, listening for anything that could even remotely pass as a moving player.

She watched Addam unleash his ink armor and fire his Splatling at the center lane—but whipped her head to the right when she heard a roller's swoosh. Kylos had to be on the other side of Delta's cover; and Addam would be in his range if the dynamo player kept moving. She had to intercept, and now.

Delta swept from her cover and raced up the center lane in one fluid motion, aiming her Splash-o-matic at Kylos' eminence jacket; she _might_ make it in time if she sprinted. He heaved his roller behind him, about to swing at Addam—

—but not before Delta put four shots into his back.

"Kylos needs to learn how to watch his rear." Delta's tank dinged as the entire country squealed over her splat. She didn't have time to celebrate herself, and ducked behind the nearby sandbags as a streak of golden yellow splatted Addam overhead. A blue autobomb landed beside the midfielder to chase Murk from Entrenched's side, who replied with a fizzy bomb to Dylan's canopy. Alyssa's laser vanished to snipe the vulnerable brella player, and that was all Delta needed.

Murk barely had time to launch his ink storm before Delta shot him into a puff of blue mist. She snapped toward Alyssa's perch and slammed her tank's red button to produce a blue launcher around her shoulders. Delta started flinging, wasting no time in lining Indigone's ledge with Suction Bomb after Suction Bomb after Suction Bomb. She spared a triumphant grin as a hasty flash of yellow disappeared from explosions of blue—she would have loved to watch Alyssa try to snipe through a Bomb Rush.

Bubbles bounced from the corner of her eye and Delta snapped her attention to the right. She replied with two bombs to the temple's entrance and aimed her Splash-o-matic at the giant golden spheres floating over the newly turfed ledge. Delta's finger slammed onto the trigger, spraying blue at Alyssa's unexpected special. A red dot flashed into her periphery and Delta only had a heartbeat to leap from the sniper's line of fire. But the last-second dodge let Kylos heave his dynamo at Alyssa's special, popping the Bubble Blower just above Delta's head.

"Yo Delta, you back yet?!" The midfielder respawned to a base sprinkled yellow and an impatient Kai in her ear. A quick look at the map told her Entrenched had run into trouble—Indigone had used the Bubble Blower to advance and cover over half the stage. "I need some backup to deal with Murk's cod-danged blaster!"

"I'm on it; cover my landing will ya?" Delta morphed into a squid and Super Jumped to the landing before Skipper Pavilion's seaside zone. The clock hit the final minute mark as the entire audience burst into Now or Never, and the booming chants shook the soles of her feet as Delta landed beside Kai.

But she didn't have time to stop and stare—Murk was quickly advancing against Entrenched's leader. A couple shots from the Splash-o-matic made the blaster turn towards Delta, and Kai finished the player with a few more spats of blue.

"Phew, thanks." Kai managed a couple words before Delta whipped her head toward the center lane. Kylos had suspended himself in midair, glowing a golden yellow as he hurled the largest Booyah Bomb she had ever seen…

…straight at them.

" _Move!_ " Delta nearly shoved Kai forward as they raced to escape the blast radius. Golden yellow stung at her back as she pushed her legs to run faster and faster, desperately trying to stay ahead of the exploding wall of ink. Delta was almost at the mudskipper statue when the Booyah Bomb finally subsided and she turned to look for her teammate, panting.

Kai hadn't made it.

There were thirty seconds left and Delta was alone in a sea of yellow with one hit point to go. Time slowed as Kylos slid around the statue, roller raised high over his head for an easy splat—but Delta's veins growled with familiar indignation. The agent burst forward and easily cleared the roller's frame, watching Kylos' eyes turn from assured to cowed. His roller harmlessly crashed behind her and she shot him point blank.

The excited audience's Now or Never reminded Delta that grand finals was almost over—and Indigone was in the lead by a huge margin. Her entire body kicked into overdrive almost as much as her Splash-o-matic, racing the clock to ink as much yellow into blue. The gap was too large for Delta to break by herself, but she would be darned if she couldn't close it at least a little. The midfielder was past the Pavilion's bottom zone when she saw Feer and Murk approaching from Indigone's side, blaster and blobbler ready to stop her.

"Delta, wait!" The centerfielder was about to throw herself at the enemy when Dylan's voice stopped her. She turned to her right to find him racing up the center lane, tentacles blazing with his own special. "Follow me, I have an idea!" Dylan took off toward the temple lane, leaving a hesitant Delta by the lake.

"Go for it, we'll hold them here!" Kai landed beside her and ran straight towards Murk and Feer, with Addam hot on his heels. Delta turned to chase Dylan down the center lane, then froze at the sandbags when her tank dinged. She looked at Dylan's flaming tentacles, who silently nodded.

They stood back to back, Delta facing Indigone's side and Dylan facing Entrenched. They didn't need a countdown and pressed each red button simultaneously. Bomb launchers sprouted around both shoulders and each member strafed their way down the center lane; Dylan's Splat Bombs reclaimed Entrenched's side while Delta's Suction Bombs took Indigone's. By the time the double Bomb Rush had subsided, nearly half of Skipper Pavilion was painted blue. Entrenched was back in the game.

Fifteen seconds left. Kylos had quickly rushed to the center lane for some desperate damage control, flinging ink at Delta from above. Bubbles swam into her periphery and Dylan vanished to intercept Feer.

Ten seconds. Kylos' panic caused him to slip from his ledge and into Delta's range, letting her advance towards the temple. Alyssa paused from her frantic turfing to aim at the midfielder, who ducked behind a sandbag just in time.

"Five!" The crowd shouted. Delta fired at whatever yellow she could see from her cover.

"Four!" Alyssa shot just to the right of the sandbag.

"Three!" Delta sprang from her cover, running towards Alyssa before the sniper could charge another shot.

"Two!" Alyssa's sights zeroed onto the agent.

"One!" Delta twisted her body to the right to escape Alyssa's shot. She threw two Burst Bombs just before the whistle blew, watching them pop two circles onto yellow ink.

Both teams stopped in their tracks, staring up at the hot air balloon hovering just above Skipper Pavilion's roof. Delta watched Judd peer over the rim of the basket and scour the stage's turf. He looked to Entrenched's base, then to Indigone's, then back to Entrenched, then back again. Hushed tones began to buzz from the audience as Delta swallowed the lump in her throat—she'd never seen Judd take this long. The score had to be close.

Judd finally leaned to his right and whispered into a nearby Inkling's ear. The Inkling whispered something back, then nodded at the cat's response and brought his newscaster's microphone to his beak.

"All right, ladies and gentlefish!" The announcer began. "The results are in! Wielding the golden yellow, defending champions Team Indigone earned a score of forty-seven point two!" The Inkling paused for the audience's roar of applause.

"And championing the electric blue," the announcer continued, "Team Entrenched nets a score of…" the announcer paused to look at Judd for confirmation, and Delta held her breath with the rest of the nation.

"…forty-seven point three!"

The audience erupted into hollers as Delta's stunned brain raced to answer which score was higher, 47.2 or 47.3. She looked to Dylan standing on the other side of the sandbags, who returned an equally dazed smile. He vanished as Kai tackled him from behind with excited cuffs and hugs, and Addam quickly followed suit. Delta finally released her breath as she glanced up at Judd's electric blue flag before joining the celebratory dogpile.

They did it.

* * *

" _You all set for today?_ " A text from "2" popped above Delta's latest web surf. She tapped the notification and typed out an answering " _yeah_ " to the group chat.

" _Right, I forgot you only know how to text one word._ " It didn't take long for Marie to find something to rib. " _There are other letters on the keyboard, just sayin_."

" _OH MY COD I'M SO EXCITEDDD!_ " A phone number named "1" joined the conversation, butting in with letters so large Delta could almost hear Marie's eardrums explode. " _FOUR THIS IS GONNA BE SO CUUUUUTE!_ " Callie followed her message with about twelve heart-eye emojis.

" _Eyah_ " Delta smirked behind her screen as she hit send.

" _Ok rearranging the same word into nonsense doesn't count."_ Marie was quick to rebut. _"Weak comeback. 7/10 needs a dictionary._ "

" _Good luck out there!_ " Callie's number popped back into the chat. " _Have fun!_ " Six more emojis buzzed onscreen, and Delta pocketed her phone with a reluctant smile. The farm girl resumed her pacing around her living room's rug in an anxious attempt to calm her nerves. Dylan would arrive in about ten minutes for their date, and Delta's stomach felt like she had eaten an entire swarm of butterflies.

Marie's suggestion to think about it had struck a chord with the young warrior. Of course Delta had the occasional high school crush every now and then, but they were just that—crushes. They could have been fun to pursue, sure, but they would have to end eventually and Delta would be left with no real progress. Chasing boys was seen as a waste of time and effort that would have been better spent on her personal goals. But…

…she had never stopped to consider if she personally wanted someone else in her life.

Maybe it wasn't a "someone else" as much as it was a "someone specific." Dylan didn't feel like the superficial crushes she was used to, his attraction felt...different. Stronger. More mature. Starting something with him might still lead nowhere, but keeping herself from it felt like fighting a natural current. Delta had to acknowledge that some part of her wanted to try, regardless of success.

But Delta had no idea what she was doing. Splattershots and tactical rescues were her area of expertise, not flirts and chasing boys. And seriously, how _was_ she supposed to talk to a guy she's interested in? What was she supposed to do? Where were they supposed to go? Did Delta pick the right spot for the date? The right activity? What the heck was makeup? Was it optional? Delta hoped it was, because she didn't even own any—let alone know how to put it on. Online websites were decidedly unhelpful, assuring that a proper romance "comes with experience" that she didn't have.

Three knocks rapped against Delta's door, reminding her that she didn't have time for anything other than instinct. Delta was out of time for experience, she'd just have to figure it out on the fly. Listen, learn, and adapt—that's what her coach would always say, and she would just have to trust that she knew enough already. Her feet paced to the door almost by themselves (after hastily ensuring the animal plushies were safely out of sight), and she managed to pause and straighten her slim-fit shirt before grabbing the doorknob.

"Hey there." Dylan might have sounded confident, but his wide eyes made him look as nervous as she was.

"Hey." Delta tried a smile as she stepped aside. "Want to come in for a second?"

"Uh, sure." Dylan slipped past her, his slick bun bouncing its way into Delta's living room. "How're you—whoa, that shirt really suits you."

"Thanks." Delta tugged at the bottom of her green tee before turning to face him. "You look nice, too." She nodded at Dylan's checkered shirt and red Zekko coat—clearly a step up from his usual sweatshirt and earbuds.

"Thanks, heh." Dylan's beak cracked into a relaxed smile, then awkwardly cleared his throat. "So uh, you ready to go? You said the thing starts at six." Delta spared a glance at her phone's clock: 5:30.

"Yeah, we should get moving." She reached over to grab her custom F-3—the same one Dylan had complimented at Sheldon's. "You remember where we're going?"

"I know it's at Starfish Mainstage, whatever it is." Dylan jammed his hands into his pockets, but quickly ejected one to beat Delta to the camo backpack on the floor. "You still haven't told me anything else about it."

"Good." Delta turned her key in the front door's lock, jamming her other hand into her pocket to make sure the two slips of paper were still there. "You're gonna find out when we get there."

* * *

They had arrived at Starfish MainStage with a few minutes to spare, but the place looked nothing like its usual Turf War layout. The whole venue was split in half with a black backdrop, right down the middle of the performing stage. The side open to the public was dotted with a sea of steel folding chairs, sprawling past Starfish's boundaries to accommodate for the show's private backstage. A giant base of...something—Delta didn't know what to call it—sat on either side of the stage where the sandbags would have been.

A makeshift ticket master's tent sat not too far behind the only operable spawn point, barricading new arrivals from the main stage. Delta lead Dylan through the noisy line and up to the unenthused sea urchin at the counter. The ticket master scanned his bored eye from guy to girl, then begrudgingly lifted a palm into the air.

"Eighty coins for two tickets." The sea urchin sounded like he was dying to be doing anything other than dealing with crazed fans.

"Oh yeah, I've got them already." Delta fished the two tickets from her pocket and handed them to the ticket master. He studied each slip like a butler inspecting a cockroach, then stamped an old studio logo onto their hands.

"You…got those ahead of time?" Dylan asked as they squeezed their way through cramped fans and toward Starfish's center stage. "How?"

"A friend gave them to me." Delta calmly replied, looking for seats. She picked two in the second row, directly across from the performer's stage.

"So I still don't know who we're seeing tonight." Dylan said as they sat down.

"Oh you will." Delta slid the camo backpack underneath her seat to save legroom. "Trust me, you're gonna love it."

"Really now?" Dylan raised a playful eyebrow, squaring his shoulders like he always did when he tried to bluff. "That's talking a big game. There's not much music out there that I like."

A six-beat tune blared from the stage, igniting its walkway into pink and green LED lights. Ink sprouted from the giant bases and danced up and down with the new drumbeat—Delta realized they were two colossal ink fountains. Side monitors turned on to displays of the stage as the intro tune shifted from nostalgic to brisk.

"I think it's about to start." Delta touched a hand to Dylan's knee as two Super Jump markers targeted the stage. "Don't say I never did anything for you." She leaned back with a smile, watching Dylan's taut jawline as a nostalgic twinkle woke magenta and lime spotlights over the stage. She was almost certain that jaw would hit the floor once the music began.

Ink sputtered from the fountains, right in time with Ink Me Up's starting drumroll. Callie and Marie landed onstage just before the retro intro, and the singers wasted no time in rushing to the roaring crowd and clapping to the beat. Callie led the lyrics and swept her hands in Ink Me Up's choreography before Marie stole the melody, ending the verse with a retro twinkle. Delta spared a glance back to Dylan, whose jaw was—in fact—as close to the floor as it could get.

"So," Delta began her tease, proudly crossing her arms over her chest. "Is this the kind of tune that suits your fancy?"

"I…" Dylan sputtered in shock. "…That's the Squid Sisters." He pointed a disbelieving finger toward the stage.

"Yup." Delta grinned back. "What's today's date?"

"The twenty-eigth."

"What's the day of the Fresh Start premiere?"

"The…" Dylan paused to run an excited hand through his hair. "…Wow. I-I had skipped them to come see you."

"So I made sure you didn't have to." Delta smiled back. "You're allowed to like whatever music you want. You took me to something you knew I'd like, so…" She paused to fiddle with the hairclip on her head. "…I thought I'd do the same for you."

"This is absolutely perfect." Dylan tried to keep his voice calm, but Delta knew the wide grin meant he was beyond excited.

"Well there's one more thing to make it even better." Delta stood from her chair, wrapping her F-3 around the backrest and gesturing an arm to the dance floor between rows. "Want to dance?"

"Of course!" Dylan was up in an instant, and together they danced until Ink Me Up ended and the music finally went quiet. Only then did they return their attention to the Squid Sisters onstage.

"Heya squidkids!" The pink singer bounced with excitement, white gloves flying all around her. "It's me—Callie!"

"'Sup." Her cousin held still save for a tiny, nonchalant shrug over folded arms. "I'm Marie."

"Hope you guys didn't forget about us…" Callie's hands went to her hips with a pout. "'Cuz it's been a while."

"After two years away from the stage…" Marie decided the audience was worth a wave. Just a small one.

"…the Squid Sisters are back!" Callie was instantly back to bouncing around. "And I bet y'all are dying to hear our new single! But first it's time for some real talk."

"We had…" Delta watched Marie sneak an accusatory glance at her cousin. "…a lot of late nights with this song."

"Yeah…" Callie clasped her hands behind her back, kicking a nonexistent rock by her feet. "Our last Splatfest gave us plenty to do but plenty to think about. We were both thankful for our own careers, but lost time to hang out with each other."

"Mhm." Marie added. "We didn't know it at the time, but those years were missing something crucial."

"But it's ok! It made us learn." Callie pumped her fist in the air with her signature smile. "We still want careers of our own, but not at the expense of our friendship. The Squid Sisters is too important to either of us to be pushed aside. We need a good do-over, one that lets us take it from the top and return to our roots."

"And that's what this new piece is about. Learning from mistakes and trying again. Enjoy!" The stage lights cut to black, showing only the Squid Sisters' pink and green glow from their costumes.

"I know I couldn't tell you what I was up to." Delta leaned over to Dylan, speaking over the intro piano. "So let me show you instead."

The Squid Sisters began their melody as if on cue, voices singing together in harmony. The intro was only a few notes, but Callie and Marie hummed it in perfect timing with each other. They effortlessly sang the first verse in unison as the lights turned back onstage. Delta didn't realize the real impact of Fresh Start until Marie called out with her lines…and Callie was there to respond with her own. That's when it hit the agent like a ton of takoyaki.

She did that.

Delta was the reason Callie had a response at all. She was the reason Marie had anyone to call out to. She quickly nudged her head to look across the rest of the audience. Every single fan in the venue had a concert to cheer for…because of her. Delta's eyes turned back to Dylan on the dance floor. He hadn't really understood her words, but nevertheless her actions as Agent 4 had brought them to this perfect moment. Dylan's beak grinned from ear to ear before he took Delta's hand in his.

"I never had a dream come true until today." Dylan looked straight at her, eyes crinkled in genuine delight.

"Really now?" Delta didn't move her hand, teasing back with another grin. "I thought that would have happened by grand finals." Dylan's hand went to her waist.

"This is oceans better."

Delta grinned back as their foreheads touched, slipping hands onto his chest. Everything—the tournament, the mission, the injury, the spat with Dylan—it all led to this unbelievably blissful moment. And it was undeniably worth it.

They shared their first kiss under a song of new beginnings and a blazingly departing sunset.

* * *

 **A/N: Aaaaand that's a wrap! Caught in a Lie is finally finally over, and honestly I'm astounded it has come this far. What started off as a simple little daydream to help handle the stress of my mother's cancer plus a difficult semester has now turned into a fully fledged story that has helped me learn _so_ much about writing. And now we're at its official ending a year and a half later, and so much has changed for the better. Now it's time to say goodbye to the story.**

 **Thank you—every single one of you—for taking this story's journey with me.**

 **But before I finally sign off, here's a couple little things about the story as a whole:**

 **-The title "Caught in a Lie" refers to the lie Callie was trying to sell pre-kidnap. She wanted everyone to believe that she was fine, but she was actually falling apart at the seams. Callie's unraveling was a major contributor to her capture, so it worked as a clear tell that she was in fact lying and led to the events of Hero Mode.**

 **-This is something I had wanted to mention since Chapter 15, but kept quiet in case I found space to actually use it in Aftermath or the Epilogue (and then it never fit): almost all of OctoCallie's lines have double meaning. They were intended to come across as an antagonistic "waaahh I'm mad go away" on the first read, but once you look at the subtext the message changes to "it's not safe this is a trap forget about me and stay away so you don't get hurt." Her opening lines in the Finale might've been straight from the game, but they can also be read as the real Callie despairing that Marie didn't heed her warnings and now she's forced to fight her cousin—which is where I actually got the double-meaning idea in the first place. It wasn't nearly as efficient as I would've liked, but it's my first attempt at a really difficult technique so I'm gonna give myself some slack on that one.**

 **-Caught in a Lie started with a sunrise, so it ends with a sunset.**

 **-The password to Callie's laptop in Chapter 11 was intended to be "catfishburger" with a heart emoji, but I'm told FFNet decided to turn it into something totally unrecognizable. Sorry about that!**

 **-Yes, the Vulpix Incident is in fact canon. It's in their Pokemon Splatfest dialogue and it's just…too perfect.**

 **-I had mentioned allllll the way back in Chapter 8 that the little detail about Marie being cross dominant was actually really important, and I can finally clarify what I meant there. Callie's brainwashing was heavily dependent on neuroanatomy, and people who are cross-dominant have different brain regions in different places. So if Marie was ever captured instead I think I'd have made a totally different story. Coincidentally, the sentence right afterwards that talks about Callie having trouble learning right from left is a reference to the correlation between difficulty learning laterality and ADHD/learning disorders.**

 **Almost everything I put into the story had a specific purpose. Even the stuff that probably felt a little weird (like Aftermath's neuroscience explanation) was included for a reason—and a whole boatload of them impacted the plot, but that's probably old news now. There's so many little details, I unfortunately can't explain every single meaning without turning this author's note into a huge essay. Besides, some secrets might be best left as just that—secrets.**

 **But I digress! It's time for me to quit ranting. Thanks once again for being a part of a wild ride, and I wish y'all happy writing with your own fics!**

 **~RisingPhoenix56**


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